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Me:Noon. It was the only time he was available.
Burke:That’s about when I land. I’ll meet you at the hotel.
Me:
No one, and I mean no one, would be coming to me for text flirtation lessons.
He told me he’d be here.
He’d be here.
I could fully understand why Burke was dreading this game, how many layers of grief he must be dealing with, but even with the awkwardness between us since he’d left, I had no reason to believe he’d bail.
I pulled my phone out and sent a very pathetic text to Daphne.
Me:He’s not going to bail on me, right? Just ... never come back to Michigan because he’s freaking out because things got awkward. RIGHT?
Me:I just need verification that I’m not such a horrible judge of character that I’d put myself in this position and it’s just the extended amount of time apart we’ve had that’s making my brain go crazy.
Me:Never mind. Ignore me. He’ll be here any minute.
I shoved the phone into my pocket and wrenched a hand through my hair. As I settled onto a deep-blue velvet couch with a view of thedowntown street, my phone rang. It was Daphne, much to the dismay of my now-leaping heart.
“Hey.”
“So.” She cleared her throat. “Burke has not appeared from his travels?”
I swallowed. “Not that I’ve seen. And he doesn’t know what room we’re in.”
She was quiet on the other end of the phone. “Plane didn’t crash?”
“Not that I’ve heard.”
“You try texting him?”
“I’m not his keeper,” I reminded her. Gawd, it sounded even flimsier when I said it out loud. What a chicken I was.
“You want to be?”
It wasn’t helpful to bang the back of my head against the couch, but I did it all the same. I kept my eyes closed while I answered. “No, I don’t.”
“Liar.”
“Remember when I walked in on him naked in the bathroom and he yelled and I screamed and then we had days of awful as a result?”
“I couldn’t forget even if I wanted to.”
I pinched my eyes shut even harder. “That’s what this reminds me of. It didn’t feel awkward when he left. But the longer we’ve gone without talking, it’s like neither of us knows how to break the stalemate when we aren’t face-to-face.”
She sighed. “Is it bad that he wants to talk in person?”
“No.” I blew out a hard breath. “But it’s been over a week. We haven’t talked about anything.”
“Hard conversations are part of being in a serious relationship,” she said lightly. “Isn’t that the point of not having strings on yours?”
Her statement hung in the air, the horrible weight of truth behind it. I couldn’t argue because she’d know exactly how badly I’d bungledthis. That I’d gone and done the thing I promised myself I wouldn’t. I sat up and sighed, my gaze pulled to the window facing the street.
That’s when I saw him.
