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Kaylee. He thought I was his wife. This whole time that I’d been helping him, in his drunken stupor, he’d forgotten and mistaken me for his wife.
Tears stung my eyes as I backed away from the bed. In the few seconds that I’d stood there unable to breathe, he’d begun to snore, so I knew he was asleep now, and chances were he wouldn’t even remember a moment of this tomorrow.
But I would.
With the door shut behind me, I stood in the hallway and took a few deep breaths. What the hell was I doing? Clearly, this man was still hung up on his dead wife. In the big scheme of things, it hadn’t been that long since she died, right? And here I was parading around like he was going to end up my man, when all that he really wanted was the woman in the picture.
The picture was in the other guest room, the only other one I’d spent much time in or liked. At least, it had been there until I brought it to Beau. What had he ended up doing with it? It didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to be able to sleep in that room.
Frustrated and a little exhausted myself, I went to the bathroom at the end of the hallway and took a shower, letting the warm water wash the scent from the bar and the pukey smell out of my hair. After several moments of contemplation, I knew what I had to do. It was wrong for me to stay here and try to continue to insert myself into Beau’s life when he’d made it clear that he wanted to be with Kaylee.
Once I was out of the shower, dried, and dressed, I brushed my teeth and then headed into the living room, stopping at a linen closet I’d seen earlier in the day to grab a blanket and pillow. This wouldn’t be easy, but it was the right thing to do.
My laptop was sitting in the living room where I’d left it way earlier in the day. I grabbed it out and did a quick search to find what I needed. I could feel the sting of tears in my eyes again as I pressed the necessary buttons. It hurt like a razor to my chest, slicing right through my heart, but at the end of the day, it was better to do this now, before the next time I heard him say “I love you” and thought he was saying it to me.
With my plane ticket home purchased, I put the laptop away and lay back onto the pillow, tossing the blanket over me and trying to close my eyes on what had obviously been a beautiful mistake.
33
BEAU
My head felt like it had been used as a speed bump on a freeway all night. Before I could even think about opening my eyes with the bright sunlight streaming in the window, I had to pull a blanket up over my face and squint through it. The clock on the nightstand wasn’t where it should’ve been though, so I lay there confused trying to remember what the hell had happened to me. Had I been kidnapped? Beaten? Drugged?
A glimpse of the fireplace across the room reminded me of why I was disoriented. I wasn’t home in Sitka. I was in Switzerland. I hadn’t been kidnapped, beaten, or drugged. No, this was self-inflicted misery. I’d drunk way too much the night before, and today, I was paying the price.
The pain in my head screamed for painkillers, so I managed to swing my legs out of the bed, noticing immediately that I was naked as the day I’d been born. Swiveling around too fast, I made the room spin out of control as I searched the bed for Georgia. Had we slept together last night? Even with my head in such a state?
No, it didn’t look like it. She wasn’t in the bed with me. I knew how I flailed about when I was drunk, so it wouldn’t surprise me that she’d either leave after getting pushed in the back one too many times or decided not to chance it when I first started acting ridiculous.
If we hadn’t had sex, why the fuck was I naked?
I spotted a wet towel on the floor near the bed, and visions of myself sitting on the bench in the shower mumbling under my breath nonsensically came back to me. Georgia had been there. She must’ve helped me take a shower. Damn, that woman was too good for me. She didn’t even know me that well, and she’d been there to help me take a shower and she had probably seen me puke more times than either one of us cared to count. I couldn’t remember having thrown up on her, but it wouldn’t surprise me if I had.
Taking a deep breath, I pulled myself off the bed and headed into the bathroom to take care of my morning business and get dressed. I hoped that Georgia was still here, but then, where would she have gone? I probably embarrassed the hell out of myself the night before, and for what?
Because I’d missed Kaylee. That was my reason for drinking too much and acting like an idiot. Kaylee was probably up in heaven looking down at me, making that face she did when I did something stupid. Her foot would be tapping, her arms crossed, her head shaking back and forth slowly as she glared at me. Yeah, I’d fucked up, and we both knew it. If I ended up screwing things up with Georgia because I couldn’t leave my past behind, I deserved whatever came my way.
Once I was dressed, I headed out to the living room, thinking I would make some coffee. I was surprised to see Georgia sleeping on the couch. There were other bedrooms she could’ve taken for herself. But then, maybe she didn’t want to sleep in any of them since she had no way of knowing where other pictures of Kaylee might be lurking.
Trying not to wake her, I headed into the kitchen to brew coffee. I also needed some grease to combat the hangover that threatened to knock me back on my ass, so I also made some bacon and eggs, being sure to make enough for Georgia, too.
I’d just finished plating her breakfast when Georgia walked in. “Good morning,” I said, tentatively, not sure how she would feel about what happened the night before.
“Hey,” she said, keeping her distance.
I was having a lot of trouble reading her expression, but it seemed like she was feeling apprehensive, like she wasn’t sure she wanted to be in the same room with me. I supposed I couldn’t blame her.
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
“Like shit,” I admitted with a laugh. “But I figured some greasy food would help. I fixed you some as well. Not quite as greasy.” I smiled at her and slid the plate over to her. Again, she approached with caution, but she did make her way over to the eating area and sat down, picking up her fork to taste her eggs.
I couldn’t exactly swallow mine whole with my head still screaming at me the way that it was. It seemed the medicine I’d taken had fallen right through me, never stopping to do its job. I hoped it would kick in eventually, but so far, my head still felt just as bad as it had when I’d first opened my eyes.
Sipping my coffee, I did my best to be cheerful so that Georgia would feel welcome once again. Who knew what she thought of me now? How badly had I embarrassed myself anyway? Had she contemplated calling a rideshare in the middle of the night and asking the driver to take her to a hotel? I wouldn’t blame her if she had.
“So, I have some news,” Georgia said when she was about halfway through her breakfast. “I’ve had an emergency come up back home, and I have to head out this morning.”
My fork slid out of my hand and hit the plate. The sound jarred my head, causing me to close my eyes tightly and wait for the ringing to stop before I could say anything at all. “You’re leaving?” I asked, unable to process.
