“Well, one of my heifer’s looks to be ready to pop within the next week or so. I’ve gotta place a call to the vet and have him come over to take a look at her.
“Oh, wow, how exciting. You sure you don’t want place that call now?” she asked.
“I’ll do it after I’m done eating. Right now, she’s sleeping, and I don’t wanna risk him coming over now and waking her up.”
“How’re the bulls doing? Don’t you have rodeo lessons you give as well?” she asked.
“I canceled and moved those around, so they won’t start up for another few days. Which is fine, because those boys need a rest anyway.”
“Ah. Gotcha.”
Chelsea was mindlessly eating her sandwich and seemed thoroughly preoccupied, and I started to become worried.
“You feelin’ alright? Did something happen while I was working?” I asked.
“Not at all. Why would you think that?”
“You just seem a little… off, I guess.”
I watched her nod slowly, but when she set her sandwich down and sighed, I knew I’d hit a nerve.
“Chelsea, what’s going on,” I prodded, “are you getting nauseous again? Is your head still hurting?”
“No no no, nothing like that,” she sighed. I saw tears rise to her eyes and I immediately dropped my sandwich. I got up and went over to her and dropped down to my knee, and that’s when I watched her face crinkle up.
“Flynn, I’ve gotta tell you something, and I’m not sure how you’re gonna feel about it,” she sniffled.
“Chelsea. I’ve got you. What in the world is going on?” I took her hand and started rubbing circles on it, but she pulled away from me and shot up from her chair.
“You remember that night in college?” she blurted out. I slowly rose from my kneeled position and felt my entire body grow rigid, and that’s when I realized why she was so afraid.
We were about to have this conversation, and I had no idea where it was about to go.
“I’ll never forget it,” I murmured lowly.
“Jesus…” she breathed. “I-I-I, uh… I have a confession to make,” she stammered.
“Alright,” I nodded. I was trying to keep my cool, but I could feel my hands balling up into fists. I never planned on having this conversation, all I wanted to do was talk with her about us moving forward. The past was the past, and I was more than willing to leave it here, but she was apparently dead set on dredging it up.
Shocker. Chelsea always seemed to be a bit stuck in the past.
>
“I got a job offer. In Paris,” she began. “And, um… it was essentially my dream job, you know? They were hiring me to be an apprentice to one of the premier fashion labels that dominates that area. Flynn, I mean… they don’t pay apprentices, you know? And they loved my stuff so much they were going to pay me.”
I kept my cool and kept my mouth shut, but the tears streaming down her face told me she wasn’t done.
“They told me I was due in the office June 9th,” she said lightly.
“June what?” I asked.
“9th…” she whispered.
“The day after graduation,” I said slowly.
I watched her nod, but there were so many things that still didn’t make sense.
“How the hell did you get a place to stay that quickly?” I breathed.