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I take a drink of my now lukewarm coffee to cover up my nerves. I get the feeling that he isn’t talking about Gage’s secret romantic entanglements though. It’s more than that.
I sympathize with Warren more than he realizes. I know what a good guy Gage is. And I know how closed off he is too.
“I know that he’s not very talkative when it comes to details about himself. But he’s trustworthy,” I agree.
His shoulders shake up and down as he huffs out a few amused laughs.
“What?” I smile and join in on the chuckle fest even though I have no idea what he’s grinning about. Just seeing him this way, spending time with him, and talking and laughing makes me happy.
“It’s funny… I actually talked about you a whole lot around him while you were still in school,” he smiles even bigger and laughs at himself. “I thought maybe you two would hit it off if I ever introduced you.”
Oh, we hit it off alright.
I feel a weird sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach hearing that Warren thought enough of Gage that he wanted to talk me up to him. He thought we’d make a good match together. It just proves how highly Warren thinks of him. To the point where he was hoping we might… get along? Date?
I start to feel guilty that he has no idea what we’ve been doing. What would I tell him though? How would I explain it to Warren when I can hardly explain it to myself?
I desperately needed orgasms and a distraction from the work and stress that was weighing me down like an elephant sitting on my chest so I started having secret sex with Gage within two days of meeting him and we haven’t stopped ever since.
That’d be an interesting conversation.
I decide to test the waters a bit.
“You were hoping he’d like me?”
He runs a hand through his long dark sandy hair. “Well, yeah I guess so,” he laughs. “I want you to forge your own path, but selfishly I thought it’d be the perfect way to convince you to move back home. You know, if you had a better reason to stay.”
Holy gut punch.
“I don’t need a better reason to stay. You and Mom and Dad are reason enough. It’s just…”
“I know,” he shakes his head. “There aren’t any good jobs that are close.”
He recites the last part like I’ve been drilling it into his head for years. Because I have. I don’t mean to sound so shallow when I attempt to make him understand my reasoning. Family is more important than my career to me. But that’s just it. Family is themostimportant thing in my eyes. I’m doing everything in my power to be able to take care of them, even if it means sacrificing a few things like living close to them.
Millions of people across the planet would give anything to have a family like mine. But I’d give anything to know they were safe and comfortable.
If those millions of peopledidhave the family that I have, they’d cherish them and spend more quality time with them. They probably wouldn’t be living thousands of miles away. Or having to get their arm twisted to visit home.
I just feel like I don’t have much of a choice.
The fact that Warren has always felt so strongly about wanting me to move back home is both heartwarming and saddening. I don’t know how to respond further. It’s a painful topic, but one that I need to face eventually.
“This coffee is disgusting,” I wince and laugh, trying to break the tension and change the subject. He smiles and nods, but not very enthusiastically. He’s drowning in his thoughts. My lips purse and I tilt my head.
“Are you going back to work tomorrow?”
“No. Gage talked to the boss for me. Told me to take a few days off to help take care of Mom and hang with the fam.”
“Perfect! We’ll get Mom home, load up on groceries for the house, and then go Christmas shopping. You down?”
“I love you Blythe, but I hate shopping,” he throws his head back like he knows I’m going to drag him along anyway no matter how much he protests.
“You’ll survive,” I smile. “Who’s your boss anyway? I’ve never seen them around or met them.”
“Couldn’t tell ya. From what I know, they bought the ranch over a decade ago. One of those silent investor situations. They never stop in, so they probably don’t live nearby.”
I shrug and pick my coffee back up, forgetting how nasty it is.
