My phone rings, and I nearly burst into tears when Josh’s smiling face flashes on the screen. I took that picture of him in his sunglasses the day before he left.
Man, he’s good-looking.
I answer the call with a smile of my own. Even rock bottom looks brighter when there’s someone wonderful in your life. “Boy, am I glad to hear from you.”
Josh’s deep laugh rumbles through the speaker, warming me all over like gooey toffee. “Hey, girl. I didn’t expect your call until tonight. How are you?”
“Great.” I’d be better if this damn fly buzzing around my head would find someone else to annoy. I swat at the thing, but it keeps on coming. “So, fun fact: I’m almost to Nashville.”
“You’re kidding! Where are you staying? If you don’t have any plans tonight, we should grab dinner. There’s a great place that just opened in the Gulch that I’ve been dying to try.”
“I’d really love that.” So,somuch. “The thing is, I don’t have a place to stay yet. I’m sorta winging it.”
“How about I get you a room at the Hilton? It’s right downtown and our company has an account with them, so we get a discount.”
That sounds a bit out of my price range, and letting the man who may one day be the father of my children know I’m not exactly flush with cash feels more like a one-month-anniversary conversation. “That’s sweet of you, but I was actually thinking of staying for a while so a hotel may not cut it.” I tug on the white fringes along the hem of my jean shorts, which are unravelling one frayed thread at a time.
What keeps them from falling apart completely?
“No way. How long are you going to be in town?”
“I don’t know. A year? Maybe two?” Or forever and always depending on how things go with my potential soulmate.
There’s a pause.
The longer it lasts, the more I start to freak out and wonder if this really was all a colossal mistake.
As if on cue, my phone buzzes with another message from my mom. “I told you so” is going to be the only thing she says to me for the rest of my life.
Remember when you drove ten hours just to turn right back around with your tail between your legs?
What have I done?
“Wait. You’re moving down here?” Josh finally says.
Is that excitement or horror in his voice? I really hope it’s the first one, otherwise I completely misunderstood the “I wish you lived closer” comment from dinner the night before he left. “Yep. That’s the plan.”
“That’s fantastic, babe.”
The tension in my chest uncoils, and a shaky breath blows through my lips, knocking my gnat enemies off course. “You’re not freaked out or anything?”
“Why would I freak out? We need to go out and celebrate. Let me know where you are and I’ll come pick you up.”
“I’m currently stranded at Waffle House.”
“Shit. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, but my car isn’t.”
“Send me the address, and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
A white Range Rover rolls up parallel to the curb, and the tinted window slides down, revealing a handsome face smiling from inside the cab. “Hey, girl. Need a lift?”
“Josh!” I scramble to my feet, knocking over my purse in the process, which of course means the clean underwear and toothbrush I threw in before the tow truck drove away with my car and my bags tumble out onto the sidewalk.
I’m not so worried about the underwear. All going well, Josh is going to see them at some point anyway. My toothbrush landing bristles down? That’s a different story.
I scoop them up and throw them back into my purse, then scramble over to the driver’s side to awkwardly hug his neck through the window.
