“You don’t have a job except for your gig at Harlow’s, and you don’t have family here. There’s no reason to stay. I can get another reading teacher to work with you in Fort Worth. That would be the only thing holding you here. I want you with me, Reese. I hate not having you close.”
Those expressive eyes of hers gave her away. She liked the idea, but it also scared her. We were new. Our friendship was almost two months old now, but as a couple, we were new.
“You want me there . . . with you,” she said, sounding like she was lost in a daze.
“Yes,” I replied firmly.
She fisted a section of her hair and looked around the room nervously. Then she began walking back and forth in a little circle. Almost as if she was pacing.
I waited. She was thinking, and I wanted her to think about this hard. Then I wanted her to say yes and pack her bags.
“You don’t . . . there’s so much. I need time. We need time. I’m settled here, and I do have friends. I have Jimmy. I have a place that is mine. You can’t . . . we can’t just move in together like this. I hate when you leave, too, but . . . but Mase.” She stopped walking and dropped her hands to her sides as if she was carrying the world on her shoulders. “There is so much you don’t know. And I’m not ready to tell you. So much that is inside me. It’s dark, and it’s . . . not a place I want to take you. But I need time. We need time. Like this. When you come into town, we can spend time together. And our nightly talks and my reading to you. And I like Dr. Munroe. He’s helping me, and I’m comfortable with him. I can’t just go with you because I want to be near you.”
Arguing with her was my knee-jerk reaction. I was good at debate. I could come up with a reason that all that didn’t matter.
What stopped me was the pleading look in her eyes. She didn’t want me to argue. She wanted me to let this go.
I would. For her. For now.
“OK. Then know that when you’re ready, I will be, too,” I finally said.
She let out a heavy sigh, then smiled weakly at me. “Thank you for wanting me.”
Words I would take back to Texas with me, that I would carry like an ache in my chest every time I thought of them.
My girl should never have to thank anyone for wanting her. Somewhere in her mind, she thought she wasn’t worthy That was what hurt the most.
Standing at her door after taking her to lunch and kissing her for more than an hour, I knew I had to leave her. Again. My world back home was calling. I had to go handle the ranch and the life I’d made for myself.
I held her tightly one more time and whispered in her ear. “Be safe. Take care of yourself. And miss me when I’m gone.”
Reese
I took the spoon Jimmy handed me and dove into the caramel swirl ice cream with a vengeance. I needed depression food. I’d been in the dumps since Mase had left that morning. I could have gone with him. He’d asked me to.
If I had said yes, I would have lost him much sooner. He hadn’t been with me long enough to really know me. He’d only gotten small doses of me. What about when the memories leaked through and I stood under the hot water of the shower screaming and scrubbing myself? He hadn’t seen that. He would think I was crazy. Because I was sure I was.
Sometimes the past broke through, and when it did, I went a little crazy.
I kept all that from him. He knew what was on the surface, and not even all of that. He knew just enough. My past had marked me.
It had ruined my ability to be close to anyone.
Except Mase. I was letting him in. Today proved just how much.
“You wanna talk about it? Or just eat it out?” Jimmy asked with a pinched frown.
“Don’t want to talk about it,” I replied, and stuffed my mouth full of ice cream.
“The man came from Texas on a Tuesday night to get your money back from the wicked witch and make sure you were OK before heading back home the next day to work. Seems to me like you should be all smiles and giggles. Not pissy and trying to eat your way through this whole pint of ice cream.”
I wasn’t telling Jimmy. If I did, I’d have to tell him more, and I wasn’t letting my past in. Not tonight. “I just hate it when he leaves,” I said instead.
“Mmm-hmm, girl, so does the rest of the world. He’s something to look at,” Jimmy agreed.
That got a laugh out of me that died almost instantly. The girls in Fort Worth didn’t have to see him leave. He was there. With them. They could see him and talk to him. He didn’t have to fly over state borders to fix their problems.
“Wherever your head just went, bring it back, please,” Jimmy said, pointing his spoon at me. “The man flew his ass over here for you last night. He ain’t giving anyone else nothing. Hell, I doubt he even smiles in Texas. He’s smiling too much for you. He’s gotta rest his sexy mouth sometime.”
I laughed. Loudly.
Jimmy sat back and smirked. He was pleased with himself.
The sound of my phone ringing had him standing up and saluting me. “That’s your piece of hot Texas ass now. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
I glanced down at the phone, expecting to see cowboy boots, but it was an unknown caller. I didn’t let Jimmy know.
“’Bye, Jimmy. And thanks,” I called out.
He blew me a kiss and closed the door behind him.
I waited a moment until he was away from the door before answering.
“Hello.”
“You think you have him, but you don’t. He was fucking me before you, and he’ll be fucking me after you.”
I held the phone in my hand long after the woman had ended the call.
An hour later, Mase called to tell me he was home safe but he was exhausted. He’d call me tomorrow.
The next morning, I refused to think about the strange phone call. It could have been a wrong number. She never said Mase’s name. I shoved it aside and finally called Blaire Finlay to set up a meeting with her for the next week about cleaning her house. Then I went to the store and paid my bills for the week.
I came back to the apartment and cleaned it from top to bottom. By the time I had to meet with Dr. Munroe, I was better. I had gotten myself together, and I knew that when I called Mase that night, all would be well.
I was just missing him.
That was all this was.
Mase
I undressed and lay back on the bed while listening to Reese read me her newest book. She seemed off tonight or nervous. I wasn’t sure which. I had to help her several times. Once she reached the end of chapter two, I was going to let her stop. This book was more difficult, and she seemed tired.