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I groaned and ran a hand through my damp hair. “It didn’t feel like cheating to me.” I knew that my tone was short, and it wasn’t helping.
“I know, but I shouldn’t have acted on my feelings.”
“Remi, I’m not going to apologize for making love to you when it’s all I’ve wanted for years. If we would have hung out as friends, then nothing would have changed, and we wouldn’t know how each other feels.”
“I know.” Her voice was soft and strained. “Bliss is in the shower, so I only have a couple of minutes. I’ll call you tomorrow or the next day.”
I feared that if I didn’t hear from her tomorrow night after she’d gotten back to Memphis and spoken to Alan, then it wouldn’t be good news for me. “Remi, just get back there, talk to him, and then come to the ranch.”
“Dylan, we talked about this. I’m already on the volunteer schedule at the hospital.”
“I know, but I just feel that if you don’t come to the ranch, then you’ll fall back into your life with him. Just… please? At least think about it.”
Remi paused for a few minutes. “Okay. I’ll see what I can work out. I gotta go. Bliss just shut off the water.”
“Okay. I love you.” The words were a part of me, and it felt like they ripped out of my chest.
“I love you, too. I do. Don’t worry.”
I do. I wanted those words from her, and I knew what I had to do. I’d have to trust that she’d come to Wyoming so that we could make plans for our future together. “Okay. Don’t text while you’re driving.”
Remi laughed softly and I could hear Bliss’s voice in the background. “I won’t. You either. I’ll call you.”
“Okay. But let me know you get there safely.”
“I will, I promise. Night.”
“Night.”
When the phone went dead, I’d never felt so alone. She was somewhere in this same hotel, yet it felt like she was on another planet. My mind was racing about the logistics and time frame of moving to be with her. I couldn’t wait to speak to her about it… hopefully in person, on Uncle Ben and Aunt Marin’s ranch.
Remi
My heart fell into my stomach.
I’d texted Dylan only twice during the day when I’d stopped at a rest area and then when I got gas in Birmingham, Alabama. The drive was almost eight hours. I’d spoken to Alan in the morning before I left and told him that we’d talk when I got back. His voice was very stilted, and he had been angry. I couldn’t blame him after I’d avoided his calls for the entire weekend. Somehow, I managed to calm the situation and told him that we’d talk when I got back to Memphis.
And… here I was. I walked around to the back of my car and popped the trunk, lifted my suitcase out, pulled up the handle and began to wheel it through the basement garage to the elevators. I lived on the top floor of a five-story apartment building in a gated community. It was expensive, but my parents insisted that any place that I stayed was as safe as possible and they had subsidized my living situation to make sure of it.
I was exhausted and wished that I could put off the conversation until I was rested, but I’d seen Alan’s old BMW waiting by the gate and though it was dark, he followed me through and parked in the visitor lot at the front of the building. Alan lived about four miles away. I wanted to be closer to St. Jude’s Hospital and he elected an apartment closer to campus.
“Ugh,” I groaned softly at what was ahead, but I was thankful we hadn’t moved in together. I pushed the lobby button in the elevator so that I could stop and buzz him into the building.
Through the glass doors, I saw him waiting. Each building didn’t have an attendant, but they were all secured with electronic locks. I walked up to the door and offered a small, tired smile before pushing the button that triggered the door lock to release. It was on a timer, so he had just a few seconds to push it open and walk inside.
“Hi,” I murmured.
“Hello.” Alan took the handle of my suitcase from me, and I turned and led the way to the elevators. “You look awful.”
My eyebrows lifted in astonishment as the silver elevator doors opened. “Well, I’ve just driven all day, and I spent all day yesterday in a car, too,” I said flatly, glancing at his wrinkled khaki pants and short sleeved button down. He wasn’t the quintessential geek, but he was close. His brown hair was messy, and he had dark rimmed glasses sitting on his nose. I resisted the urge to tell him he didn’t exactly fit on the cover of GQ.
The elevator dinged before the doors opened on the top floor and I preceded him out acutely aware of his eyes on my back. I opened the door to my apartment and walked inside. “Just leave the bag by the door. I’ll unpack tomorrow.”
The part where I’d have to face him, and his rebuke of my behavior was fast approaching. I knew my demeanor was more stand-offish than it had been when I’d left last week. Maybe it was sort of an invisible armor I’d subconsciously put up as a barrier, but it was what it was.
“So, why couldn’t you return my calls or texts all weekend?”
I kicked off my shoes and left them between the sofa and coffee table of the small, one bedroom apartment, then turned to face him intent on heading into the kitchen to get a bottle of water from the refrigerator. “I did that once, and I told you I was with my family. What made this weekend so different? You never text or call me that much. It was kinda weird, Alan. Do you want water?” I asked, opening the refrigerator, and reaching for two bottles.
