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There were fresh flowers on the nightstand, lotion, Chapstick, plus a kindle and tablet. On the opposite side of the bed was a little notebook, with a few lines scribbled across the page.
Long talks with Millie
The end of flu season
Allergy medicine
Weddings
Vacuum lines in the carpet
The walking path behind the house
End of day baths that can be taken with wine
What was this list?
It was odd and seemed incredibly random.
I pushed the heels of my palms into my eye sockets and threw myself back onto the bed. What the fuck had I missed?
It felt like I was a stranger looking in on my life, only I wasn’t here anymore and there was no way I’d catch up.
* * *
Haley was being elusive,which I wasn’t sure if it was due to the wedding and being stressed, or something else. She’d come back after the night up with Nora and Rae and went on with business as usual. The girls were out of school for the week to prepare for the trip, so they were mostly hanging with me at the gym and Haley was busy doing a million different errands for Nora and Rae.
Still, it felt like I was missing something or if I dug deep enough, I would find that she was hiding something. Maybe I was just messed up because we hadn’t really talked yet. We’d seen each other in passing, but with the kids around, we hadn’t done more than that, and at night, she was over at her brother’s house. When I pressed for a reason, it went back to helping Nora with last-minute wedding details that were keeping them up almost all night.
I was sure that was the case. I mean, she had called me late last night, around eleven, and talked to me until she had to go again. She was sweet, even flirtatious, but it didn’t change the gnawing void in my gut that we needed to talk.
I wanted to end this distance shit officially, especially before we went to the wedding. So, I swung the girls by the diner and asked Millie to keep an eye on them for a bit while I tried to catch Haley alone.
She wasn’t answering her text messages, so I tried Colson’s house first. She wasn’t there, so I headed home. Her car was in the garage, but when I walked in, she wasn’t around.
“Haley?” I yelled, but she didn’t reply.
Must be upstairs.
I was about to run up when her cell phone dinged with a new message. I looked down, seeing that it was right next to me on the kitchen counter. I wouldn’t normally ever invade her privacy, but in this case…
I tapped in her code and cradled the phone, swiping open her text messages.
Jeffery:
Did we agree to meet here, or over there?
Then another message came through.
Jeffery:
I know you’re eager to get this wood up *winky face*
What. In. The. Actual. Fuck.
She ran down the stairs a moment later, all bubbly and happy.
“Hey, I didn’t know you were here. Are you alone?”
