“I wasn’t worried about you with Sharon. I was jealous that anyone else got to touch you, in the same way you probably don’t like that Christian and I were together. I don’t actually think that you want Sharon, and you know I don’t want Christian. It’s just hard to find the person you want to be with and think about them being with someone else. Your someone else is down the hall right now, but I’m not worried that you’re going to sleep with her again. Hell, even ifshewanted to, I know you don’t. You were confused and upset, like the rest of us out there, but that’s not all it is, Gage. You’re worried, aren’t you?”
“Can we maybe pack first?” she asked. “I’m regretting saying no to that second cup of coffee already.”
“Will you sit down, please?” Carrie requested. “Packing will take, like, ten minutes. We can do that later.”
“Carrie, I know we have to talk, okay? I know we need to figure out who’s flying to whom, how much that will cost, and how we’ll do it again and again, but can we just–”
“Remember how Nia said I don’t let you off the hook before?”
“What? Yeah. So?”
“Sit down next to me, please,” Carrie said, patting the spot on the bed. “Gage, please.”
“I’m better standing. I can pace or–”
“Get upset more easily when you’re moving?”
“What? I’m not upset. I–”
“You’re scared. You’re worried.”
“Yes,” she admitted. “We’re not like the other couples. The two that already left live in the same damn place, and Debra clearly has money. She can probably afford to fly Sharon back and forth every weekend if she wanted to, or get herself to her place whenever. Hell, she’s already flying home with Sharon tomorrow, and they’ll have a whole week together or maybemore, I don’t know. I was only partly paying attention because I… I just found you.”
“I know.”
“And you’re leaving tomorrow. We’re both leaving. I’ll be going in one direction, and you’re going the other.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll be busy, Carrie.”
“Okay.”
Gage started to pace and said, “I work ten-hour days, and I’m in charge, so I don’t usually get a day off. Sometimes, I leave at eight hours, but that’s a short day for me. Even if you could come for a visit, when would I see you? At night? I come home exhausted, smelling like pool chemicals, and we order in dinner and do what?”
“Talk about your day and mine,” Carrie suggested.
“You really want to hear about how the Fosters’ pool had a massive leak? Or how the Chance family is a mess, and I know that because Mrs. Chance lays out whenever I’m there to check on my team or do the work myself and she talks on the phone loud enough for me to hear that her husband is having an affair and she’s thinking about having one of her own?”
“She doeswhat?”
“Yeah. And the Thompsons need a new liner, but they can’t afford it, so they keep yelling at me repeatedly over the phone, telling me my prices are too high, but I’ve given them all the discounts I can, and–”
“Back to this Mrs. Chance.”
“What?”
“Gage, that woman wants to sleep with you.”
“Oh, I know.” Gage shrugged.
“You know?”
“I’m not an idiot. She’s a very bored housewife now that her two kids have gone off to college, and her husband isn’t around. She’s not exactly subtle.”
“You haven’t…”
“God, no. I don’t sleep with customers, Carrie. She’ll get tired of it eventually and just stay inside when I’m there, but the point is that I’m a workaholic. I’ve never needed to get home to someone before.”
