I’d love nothing more than to stew over it for another day, Mace. Excellent idea.
My hand absentmindedly rubs up and down her back. Keeping my touch light, I close my eyes and accept the idea of waiting until tomorrow to talk. It can wait as long as she stays in my arms like this while we both drift off.
21
MESA
“Anything else, Mesa?”
My head jerks up to the laptop screen. “Hmm? Oh, yes. Great suggestion.”
Hazel purses her lips and taps a stack of papers on her desk to straighten them. “You’re distracted again.”
We try to hold a virtual meeting at least once a week to ensure our plans are still running smoothly. I’ve stayed on top of my work since we started in late March two months ago, and I don’t usually mind these quick check-ins. Today though, my mind is elsewhere.
“Sorry,” I admit with a soft huff. “I got a text that I—never mind. Did everything I sent you look okay?”
She lowers her chin and peers at me over her glasses. Sophia taps away with a stylus on her iPad, oblivious.
“I was very impressed with everything in your email,” Hazel answers. “We’re on track so far.”
I smile and uncross my legs under the table to sit up taller. “That’s great. If there’s anything you need from me while I keep at it, just give me a call.”
“Alright. Well, I think that’s everything for today, then. I’m off.”
“Me too. Talk soon!” My fingers can’t maneuver the mouse to end the meeting fast enough.
As soon as the video feed cuts off and I’ve shut my laptop, I scoot my chair back to sprint to the couch. It takes a moment for the TV to turn on and reach the correct streaming app, but once it finally does, I let out a deep exhale.
I missed first pitch, but it’s still early in the game. Good. When it changes to a brief advertisement, I stare at the unopened text notifications on my phone.
Cole
How’s the middle of nowhere been treating you?
Noah
U up?
The nerve. I curl my hand around my phone.
It wasn’t just Cole or Noah who’d strung me along. It was every damn man who gave me the time of day.
I’d foolishly hoped for some sort of magical love dust to fall over me in my sleep so that I’d get the fairytale I so desperately wanted.Desperatebeing the key misstep in my delusions. Not a single one of them had anything to offer that I couldn’t offer myself. I see that now.
The sex was always bad, too. But that’s beside the point and no longer an issue for me. I’ve long since moved on from the version of me who was beside herself that she couldn’t, god forbid, have an occasional orgasm.
The tables have finally turned, and I’m damn proud of myself. Deleting both texts rather than crying over them feels like a major victory.
When my phone buzzes with a new text, I nearly sprain my wrist rushing to open it.
Tripp
Are you seeing this?
In what world is that a balk?
I smile. Holding the phone close, my eyes flick to the TV. The soft glow of the screen in the darkness of my cottage casts moving shadows in the room.
