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A smile filled his face quickly. “Hey.” He hadn’t exactly forgotten about her, but he had meant to call her on the drive. To be honest, he was sick of doing that too.
She didn’t answer right away, at least not verbally. She did stick her hands in her back pocket, fanning out those elbows. Tonight, she wore a bulky sweatshirt that he still found incredibly sexy and a troubled look. “You didn’t come help with the move.”
“It’s tomorrow,” he said.
“No, Mike.” She shook her head. “It was this afternoon. I told you over and over.”
Mike shook his head, refusing to believe that he’d messed this up. “That can’t be right.”
“It doesn’t matter.” She started to brush past him, but Mike caught her arm.
“Hey.” He didn’t let her go, and even in the dim light, their eyes met. “It obviously matters. I’m really sorry. I thought it was tomorrow.”
“France was waiting.” She pulled her arm away and brushed at her eyes. Mike didn’t know what to say or do, but an animal clawed at his heart. Gerty absolutely could not cry. He would do anything to make sure she didn’t have to hurt.
“I swear it was tomorrow.” He pulled out his phone to check his calendar.
“Mike, I changed it like, two weeks ago.” She covered his phone with her hand. “You don’t need to check it. It’s done.”
He looked up at her. “Did you eat?”
“Yeah,” she said. “We all went out, like we planned.”
Mike’s chest felt so hollow. “I…don’t even know what to say. I’m sorry. I really thought it was tomorrow.” He sighed and sank onto the steps where she’d been sitting. “I even told the valets that I wouldn’t be in tomorrow to get my truck.”
Gerty didn’t immediately join him on the steps, and that made his heart beat too fast in a bad way. “Why don’t you have your truck?”
“It has a flat tire.” He sounded wiped out, and he wondered if he could simply go to bed right now, no food necessary.
Gerty sighed as she stepped over to him and sat down too. She kept more distance between them than she usually did, and Mike didn’t like it. He’d apologized, and Gerty would have to figure out how to accept it or not.
He reached over and threaded his fingers through hers. “I’m such an idiot for messing this up. I’m sorry.” His whispers still sounded really loud in the quiet evening. “I have to get out of these clothes. Please come in?”
She gave him a look, softening right in front of him. “Fine,” she finally said. “But I’m not cooking.”
He gave her a soft smile and leaned toward her. “Okay,” he whispered. “It’s so good to see you.”
“It’s been a few days,” she admitted.
“You’ve been busy at the farm.” He got to his feet and climbed the steps slowly, giving Gerty a chance to come with him.
She did, and they made it all the way inside before she asked, “What do you mean by that?”
“By what?” he started unknotting his tie. That done and Gerty still silent, he unbuttoned his shirtsleeves and peeled off his jacket. He laid it with his tie over the back of the couch, where it would stay until he had to do laundry—or until his momma showed up. So it would stay there for a while.
“Me being busy at the farm.”
“I mean you’ve been busy at the farm,” he said.
“You’ve been busy too.”
“Completely,” he said, pausing in his undressing. After all, if he went any further, he’d be revealing skin in front of his girlfriend. He peered at her. “What’s wrong?”
“Is this going to be us?” she asked. “Meeting in the night, after days apart?” She folded her arms and cocked that sexy hip. “Because if so, I don’t want it.”
Mike blinked at her. “I’m not sure I’m following.”
“You’re going to work in the city.”
