Fifteen
Well. That had not gone well. He sat down, bare-ass naked on the end of the bed in his honeymoon suite. And he did something he really didn’t want to do. He called his brother.
“Hey, Chance,” he said. “You up for driving to Bend?”
“When?”
“You know. Now, maybe?”
“Why?”
“Well, I’m in Bend. Because I got married and my wife just left me and took my truck.”
“What the fuck did you do?” asked Chance.
“I didn’t do anything, actually. But thank you. I just told her that I loved her.”
“Oh. Well. I’ll be there in a minute.”
It didn’t feel like a minute. And really, it wasn’t. It was a hell of a long time before his brother managed to get there, and by the time he did, Kit was a little bit drunk.
“Oh, boy,” said Chance. “So she rejected your ass?”
“Yeah. I... I’m in love with her, Chance. I’m in love with her... And... She’s not in love with me.”
“I think that’s bullshit. I think you know that too.”
“Do I?”
“Yeah. I think so. I think she’s scared.”
“Yeah. I get that.”
“And why exactly aren’t you scared anymore?” Chance asked.
“I don’t know. The same reason you aren’t. Love is just more important.”
“It is.”
“I’ll wait for her.”
“That’s how you know it’s real. It feels urgent. But if you can be patient... If you could be patient, then... It’s the real thing.”
“I’ve been patient.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“It’s all right with me if she still loves him. Maybe for her, that’s how it will always be. But for me... It’s fate. There’s nobody else but her.”
“I don’t see why you can’t be her fate too.”
“Well, I respect what she had.”
“You’re here. And you’re together. I suspect that her real problem is that she’s a little bit afraid that you and her might have been inevitable.”
Well. That made sense. But it was a damned optimistic view.
“And how is it that you have so much faith in that?”
“Because it took amnesia, a very strange lie and a whole lot of letting go for me to find love, but I did it anyway. I believe you’ll have the same. So... That’s it. I just believe in it.”
He was going to cling to that. And he did. The whole ride back to Lone Rock. That was what he clung to.