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19
The sun was shining brightlyas Viv and Glenn drove up the same winding mountain road they’d taken the night before. In the light of day, the area that had appeared creepy and deserted now just looked magical and hidden away. There were Douglas firs and maples as far as the eye could see.
So many emotions were rioting through her. First, she still hadn’t been able to process what had transpired between her and Glenn the night before, and again that morning. It wasn’t just sex. She wasn’t sure what it was, but it was a lot more than sex. Something happened when they’d been together, it was as if their souls had fused and become one.
She’d read about things like that happening in romance novels, and heard people sing about it in songs, but she’d always thought they were crazy.
Sex was sex. Some sex was good. Some sex was bad. Some sex was okay. But it wasn’t transformative. It wasn’t life changing.
But it turns out, she was wrong. She couldn’t have been more wrong. Or maybe like Glenn said about her kissing, she’d just been doing it with the wrong people.
She glanced over at Glenn who was concentrating on the winding road. He was the right person. If she’d had any doubt before, last night had cleared that up for her.
But what good was knowing who the right person was if you couldn’t be with them?
They hadn’t discussed any encore performances when they got back to Hope Falls. He didn’t do casual, and she didn’t date guys with kids. He was leaving at the end of the summer.
When the truck pulled to a stop she realized she’d been so wrapped up in thinking about what was going on between her and Glenn, she hadn’t spent any time thinking about the fact that she might be coming face to face with her sperm donor.
Maybe that was just her brain’s way of distracting itself. Over the past two years, she’d done this over a dozen times. Fourteen times to be exact. Fourteen times she’d gotten a lead from somewhere and shown up on a doorstep. And all fourteen times it had been a dead end.
This time felt different. She wasn’t sure if it was because Glenn was with her, or if it was because his source was an actual professional people finder aka private detective, or if it was because this one wasn’t going to be a dead end.
Whatever it was, her spidey senses were all sorts of tingling.
“You ready?” Glenn asked.
Viv smiled, hoping to disguise the nervousness she was feeling by joking around. “Nah, I changed my mind. I just want to go home.”
“Okay,” Glenn started the engine back up, but Viv reached out and grabbed his arm.
“I was kidding.”
He turned to look at her. “We can leave.”
“No. Let’s do this.” She smiled at him. She couldn’t help it. He’d gone above and beyond and found this lead. He’d driven all day yesterday, paid for an Airbnb, and was going to drive home today, and if she said she wanted to go home, she could see that he honestly wouldn’t be mad.
Who was this man?
She got out and as they walked up to the door, she noticed that their arms brushed against one another. It was a small thing that was unintentional, but there was an intimacy there. She felt closer to Glenn. Not just physically, although she did feel that, but emotionally.
Something had shifted between them last night when they were having sex. The energy between them had changed. A bond had formed.
Maybe that’s what sex was supposed to be for people. Not just a physical act, but an emotional one. Maybe that’s what had been missing with the other people she’d been with. Take her high school boyfriend, for instance, she’d liked Randall, but having his penis inside of her hadn’t made her feel any closer to him.
But with Glenn, she felt like he knew a part of her that other people didn’t. It was a little…unnerving and made her feel vulnerable. But, as she walked up to knock on the door of a man that might be her father, she was going to lean into it.
She took a deep breath and Glenn’s hand rested on her lower back. Just that little encouragement and support was all she needed. She lifted her hand and knocked.
For a moment, just like the night before, she didn’t hear anything. But then there were sounds of stirring coming from inside and she let out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding.
Someone was home and they were going to answer the door. This trip had not been for nothing. Even if it was another dead end that was one more person to cross off the list.
She swallowed over a knot of nerves that had formed in her throat, or maybe it was her heart that had lodged there because it had beat right up and out of her chest.
Calm the fuck down, she told herself. It could be nothing. This could be another dud.
There was a very good chance that in a few minutes she’d be turning around, climbing back into Glenn’s truck and heading back to Hope Falls no closer to finding her father than she had been yesterday.
