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Mona might be a tornado of a woman, but it was obvious to Dax that she loved her daughter more than life itself and she would do anything for Ginny. It had been hard for him to imagine the woman that Ginny had described to him. But seeing her in action everything Ginny had said made sense. She was obviously overbearing, overprotective and over the top, but there was a fierce, protective love that radiated from her when she looked at her daughter.
His phone buzzed and figuring they might want a few moments alone, he excused himself to take it in the kitchen. It was Seth. He answered it on the third ring. “Hey, man.”
“I know you just got off the job but we had something that just came up. Overseas. Roll call, oh nine hundred. Could go two to three weeks and it’s dark.”
“I’m not…I’m still on my assig…” He didn’t finish his thought because it dawned on him that now that Mona was home she’d terminated the contract. It was no longer his job to protect Ginny. He knew this time was coming, but he just hadn’t known that it would feel like a sharp knife stabbing him repeatedly in the chest. “Do you need an answer right now?”
If he did then the answer was no. There was no way he was going to take off on a dark mission, not knowing where he was going, when he’d be back and not having any communication until he knew exactly what was going on with Ginny.
“I can give you an hour.”
“All right.”
Dax put the phone back in his pocket and when he stepped back into the living room he found Brad playing with Capone. “Hope you don’t mind if I throw his toy. He wanted to play while the girls pack.”
“Pack?” Dax repeated.
“Yes. We have a flight back to Nashville that takes off in four hours and we are already going to be cutting it close to make early check-in.”
“What about her car?” Dax was grasping at straws but she had driven there.
“It’s already on a truck on its way back to Nashville. Mona took care of it. At this rate, it might even beat us there. She also arranged for Chase to fly out on Monday to finish up the album with Ginny’s band in the studio.”
No. No. No.This wasn’t supposed to happen for another week. He had another week with her. The knife that had been stabbing his chest was now twisting painfully. He couldn’t breathe.
“All right, well we’re going to get out of your hair.” Mona declared as she and Ginny walked back into the living room. “When Ginny told me that you had an Airbnb, and you were a bodyguard I knew that she was in the right place. Thank you again for taking such good care of my Ginnybean.”
Ginny stood behind her mom with the bland but pleasant expression he recognized from magazine covers. It must be her shield from the public because he was trying to pick out any clue, take any hint that she wanted to stay, any sign at all that she wanted him to step in. But there was nothing. He might as well have been a stranger.
Ginny bent down to say goodbye to Capone and then he saw real emotion. Then he saw a tear slip down her cheek as she smothered his dog’s head in kisses. That just cranked the knife deeper and harder.
“I need to go move my truck.” He sniffed back emotion as he hurried out of the house, hoping she would follow him.
Was it pathetic? Yes. He didn’t give a shit. Pathetic was all he had at this point. He thought about blocking them in. Not letting them leave. Declaring his undying love for her and demand that she look him in the eye and tell him that she didn’t love him back. But what good would that do?
She’d come here to get a break from people telling her what to do. People putting their opinions and their agendas on her. And even though it would have been done in love, he thought Mona was a perfect example of how it would still be a bad idea.
So instead, he got into his SUV and backed up as they were piling into the car. The only goodbye he got from her was a small wave from the back seat. He wanted to believe that he’d seen her lower lip tremor but it could have been his eyes seeing what they wanted to. Or it could have been because she was going to miss Capone.
Either way, it didn’t change the red lights of their car disappearing around the corner. It didn’t change the fact that she was gone. So he did the only thing he knew to do, he pulled out his phone and texted Seth that he was good to go and messaged Bones, Balls & Belly Rubs to let them know he’d be dropping off Capone for boarding.
As he pulled into the garage he looked over at Ginny’s empty seat. Somehow, in the past few weeks, that had become her seat. He didn’t know how long it would take before he’d be able to look over at it and not expect to see her there. If the sharp agony in his chest and gut was any indication, it was going to be a long-ass time. He might even need to sell the damn thing.
When he walked in from the garage he turned his head from side to side and everywhere he looked he saw her there. Not actually. He wasn’t losing his mind. But he saw the memory of her standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Her glancing over her shoulder with a flirty glint in her eye. And the pain grew worse. It wasn’t just emotional pain. It was physical. He was hurting. Bad.
Why the hell had she made him feel? He would do anything to go back to being numb. To being desensitized. To being immune.
The thought of going into his bedroom was unbearable. He doubted he would get any sleep anyway so he just collapsed on the couch. Cap jumped up and he wrapped his arms around the stinky mutt and held on tight to try to get some comfort from his pain. But even that was tainted. He could smell Ginny on his fur.
Being a glutton for punishment, he breathed it in as his phone buzzed. His heart slammed against his ribs as he grabbed it out of his pocket. It was her. It had to be. There was no way she could just leave like that.
He was wrong. It wasn’t her. It was the boarders messaging him back.
It read: Bones, Balls & Belly Rubs is looking forward to Al Capone’s stay.
“Well, buddy.” He sniffed. “At least one of us is going to be getting some.”
