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Ben burst out laughing. “I know you don’t mean that we should let one of our guests, suffer, Dylan.” He winked at me. “City people don’t realize how rugged life is out here.”
“No, but you’d think she’d know better.”
“What are you going to do?” Ben asked. “I need to get back out to camp.” He stood up, waiting for my answer.
I patted Sunny on the head once more and joined him on the walk to the horses. “I’m torn. I’m worried about Remi.”
“She probably just needs a bit of time, Dylan. Seeing Christy here had to be a shock.”
“I’ll come with you. I’ll wait a few days and then head to Memphis. At least I’ll be able to find her, and she will have gotten some well’ needed rest.” I was sure that being overtired made Remi overreact to the situation and maybe that was why she wouldn’t let me explain. I just hoped that she was safe. “Maybe she will listen.”
“I think she will.”
We were both back astride the horses and started a leisurely walk back to camp. “I’m going to settle things with Christy once and for all, and then I’m going to try and call Remi, again. If she’ll answer the phone, I’ll ask her to meet me in Jackson in the morning.”
If she blocked me, I wouldn’t be able to text or call. I tried to relax, but inside I was still conflicted. Remi and I both had some big things in front of us and neither of us could afford to be all twisted up inside. I just had to kick the ball around, but she was going to med school with scholarships and research grants on the line. Either way, we needed to talk.
Ben’s white teeth flashed in the moonlight. “The morning, huh? I thought you were going to Memphis in a few days.”
“You’re right, I’d rather not wait. I’m worried about her, and if I can find her, I’ll go tonight.”
Dylan
A week later I took a Lyft from the airport and found myself standing outside Remi’s apartment in Memphis after the driver left me outside the gate.
Remi wasn’t taking my calls and she refused to discuss me with anyone else. I’d called her parents and they said she hadn’t told them anything, and Ben and Marin had tried to call her, too. I was desperate and I knew Remi would have confided in her younger sister, but Bliss was where I drew the line.
There was a good chance she wouldn’t let me in to her apartment and I’d be standing out here like a lovesick moron. The weather was getting bad; it was warm and there was a cloud wall on the western horizon that was moving in fast. I leaned forward and pressed the button to her apartment and waited. The thunder rolled loudly in the sky.
When nothing happened, I pressed it again. There was a video camera, and I knew if she was home, she’d know it was me. The early evening sun was still up, but the thick clouds made it dreary grey, but the hot temperature made tornados likely. The Lyft driver told me that several counties in eastern Arkansas and western Tennessee were under tornado watches and severe thunderstorm warnings, and wind was starting to whip up. My hair was blowing into my eyes.
Lightning struck on the horizon and was soon followed by a huge crack of thunder that rumbled through the low clouds above my head, as rain began to pour. I pressed the buzzer once more without a response.
I was frustrated as I stood there getting soaked in a deluge, my hair plastered to my head and my khaki shorts and T-shirt completely wet.
“Fuck!” I muttered. I’d have to make a new plan. There was a gas station on the corner, and it was the closest cover and decided to head in that direction, water squishing in my brown Olukai flipflops.
I started walking away from the iron gate, but along the fence to make the block-long walk to wait out the storm.
Cars were passing me and splashing the quickly accumulating water from the gutter up and on to the sidewalk, and my legs and feet. “Great,” I complained. I had a duffle bag slung over my shoulder and I could only hope it was truly waterproof because it held the only change of clothes I’d brought with me.
My hands were shoved in the pockets of my shorts and my head bowed as I walked. There was a honk behind me, which not only startled me, but made me turn to look what made the sound. Remi’s white Altima was rolling slowly at my side. I stopped and she rolled down the window. “Get in!”
I didn’t wait and within a couple of seconds was sliding my wet body onto her leather seats and closing the door behind me.
“What are you doing here, Dylan?” She was dressed in green surgery scrubs, her hair pulled up in a loose bun and she wore no make-up. She looked tired.
“I wanted to talk to you about what happened at the ranch.” The car sped up and she kept driving. “Can we go back to your place, and I can dry off?”
“I can take you to a hotel,” she said. Her expression was tight, and I knew she was struggling. “I’m just getting off of a long shift at the hospital and I’m exhausted.”
“Well, I haven’t exactly been getting a lot of sleep either. We need to talk, Remi. Even if you take me to a hotel and I’m sitting here like a drowned rat leaking all over your car, I’m not getting out of here until we have this fucking conversation!”
“There is nothing to talk about. I saw Christy with you, and that’s it.” Her voice cracked on the last part of the sentence, pain contorting her face. “The minute I couldn’t be there, you replaced me.”
I felt so fucking exasperated; frustration made me want to punch the dashboard of her car. I ran my hand through my wet hair to push it from my face. “No, it isn’t, Remi! I didn’t ask Christy to be there! A fact you’d know if you would have let me explain. I was so happy to see you, but you clearly don’t trust me. After the weekend we spent together, you still assume the worst of me. It was like a knife in my heart.” My throat ached and the back of my eyes began to sting. Emotions were undeniable.
Tears were running down her face and it was starting to hail; large white balls of ice falling from the sky in a torrent. They were bouncing off Remi’s car in a loud symphony of bangs and pops.
