Page 39 of It Was Always You

Iwas more tired thannormal when I returned to the hotel room. It had been a long day full of meetings. I walked in and kicked my shoes off. I was still undecided about what I would do—move back or return to my new home. It was a privilege that they thought to call me back, but I was beginning to seriously doubt if working at this pace was forme.

I sat on the bed and rubbed my aching feet. I still had three hours of work to complete that was due in the morning before I could curl up in bed. Changing out of my clothes, I changed into my T-shirt and pajama pants and grabbed the room service menu. Eating out all the time was going to add on thepounds.

Calling down, I ordered a quinoa salad with a side of salmon and pulled my laptop from the bag. I was about to start writing when my phonerang.

"Hey, Jen." Ismiled.

"Hey, babe, how's thingsgoing?"

"I'm so tired. I don't remember ever being this tired. And if you really want to know, I am so bloated, my feet are killing me. My period is five days late. I am never late! Oh, and to top it off, I spent the first three hours of my day running to the bathroom. It's all stressing me out bigtime!"

"Oh, girl, have you never learned. Stressing over it only makes it stay away longer. Do you remember that time in college when I slept with Rob, Eric, and then that mystery man at that party all in the same month? My period was so late, I made myself sick every morning for three weeks convincing myself I was doomed. I was going to have to drop out of college and become a singlemom.

“You were so awesome, you went and bought almost every pregnancy test on campus. As soon as I was done taking them all to get the same answer of negative, my period started the nexthour."

We both laughed at thememory.

I had always loved her and was thankful to have her here to talk to. "So, your advice is to buy every pregnancy test in the hotelpharmacy?"

"No, my advice is take a load off. It’s from all the stress you've been under. Drink some wine, put your feet up, and relax! Maybe a spa day is in order. Anyway, I'll come over tomorrow night with dinner. We can drink some wine, watch a movie. Possibly, I'll bring a test and be a good friend to you like you were to me." She laughed into the phone. "Have you made a decision about the jobyet?"

"I'm still not sure what I’m going to do. I've wanted this position for years." I sighed into the phone. "What about you? Have you made a decision about you andElliott?"

Elliott had asked Jen to move in with him. I didn't know how I felt about that. If she moved in with him, and I stayed here, then I would bealone.

"I told him yes. He is planning to come up with Parker to help me move most of mystuff."

I didn't want to talk about Parker. I was missing him more than I cared to admit tomyself.

"When?"

"The end of the month. I can't wait to be withhim."

"Don't you think it’s a little soon to move in together? I mean you've only spent one weekend together." I could sense the jealousy in my voice and hoped she didn't pick up onit.

"If it doesn't work out then I will chalk it up to another one of the dumbest things I ever did. But sometimes you have to take a chance. I'm still young; I can afford to make mistakes." Shelaughed.

That was one thing I admired about Jen — her spontaneity. She had never been afraid to put herself out there and try something, even when the odds were againsther.

"I wish it worked out for me thatway."

"I thought things were going well between you both? Whathappened?"

I hadn't mentioned anything to Jen about what had happened. "Things were going so well, until Saturday. When the call came in to come back to work, I didn't know how to tell him. I mean, they called on Friday and wanted me to start on Monday. I decided I just wanted to forget about it and enjoy our date that night, so I didn't tell him.” Iswallowed.

“We went out, he came back and spent the night. The next morning, Keller called and left a message about my flight. Parker heard it and got pissed. He asked me what the call was about, and I froze. I couldn't answer hisquestions.

“He left. He thought I had been playing a game with him to get back at him for what happened when we were younger. I called Elliott to see if he knew where Parker was—I didn't want to leave without talking to him—and Elliott pretty much gave me shit. I've left Parker messages, but he hasn't called meback."

"Give him some time. Call again in a couple of days. Considering how he feels about you, I am sure he will call you back when he isready."

"What do you mean bythat?"

"It’s not a secret he still loves you, Tatum. Don’t be so blind. I could see it written all over him the first time I saw him. The way he looked at you was the same way he looked at you back incollege."

I grew quiet. I was scared. Scared of losing him, scared of loving him, scared for what it all meant. A knock interrupted my thoughts. I opened the door and room service came walking in with my food. As soon as the door was closed, the smell of salmon permeated the room and my stomach did aflip.

"I think I am going to lose my mind over all this restaurant food, Jen,honestly."

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