Page 68 of Written with Regret (The Regret Duet 1)
His reply was much slower that time, and I watched the text bubble dancing on the screen for well over a minute.Caven: Shit, Hadley. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought up your parents.
Me: You didn’t bring them up. I did. And it’s okay. I like talking about them. The memories fade slower that way.
Caven: I still feel like an ass given the circumstances.
Me: Yeah, well. You shouldn’t. If anyone should feel like an ass, it’s me. I dry-heaved into your toilet today without even lifting the seat. So rude.
Caven: Jesus, you were dry-heaving?Okay. So that hadn’t gone as planned. I’d thought I could distract him from feeling guilty for bringing up my parents only to make him feel guilty about me dry-heaving in his bathroom.Me: What? Who said anything about dry-heaving? Did Rosie calm down after I left?
Caven: Nice change of subject. And no. She was a wild woman all night. The only time she settled down was to tell me about Jacob being a love expert.
Me: Awwww. That’s so cute.
Caven: Jacob is not cute. But I appreciate you giving her the cooties shot. I’m trying to keep my medical expenses down this year. I’ll need the bail money for when I go toe-to-toe with Jacob’s father.
Me: Did she happen to mention that Jacob’s dad is a former professional heavyweight boxer turned stuntman?
Caven: Oh please. I could take him. Wait…are you serious?
Me: Maybe. I can’t remember exactly what she said. It was either former professional heavyweight boxer turned stuntman or proctologist. Definitely one of the two.
Caven: Rosalee knew the word proctologist?
Me: No. I was just trying to save you from the horror of hearing, “Jacob’s dad is a doctor who looks at the inside of people’s butts.”
Caven: How big of a box would I need to mail a four-year-old boy to China?I laughed, my smile so wide that it was almost painful. God, this felt good. Easy and comfortable, the way I’d always secretly hoped it could be between me and Caven. I sucked in a deep breath, holding it as if I could inhale this moment and engrain it into my subconscious to revisit in the future when things inevitably got hard again.Me: I don’t have much experience in that department. But I have faith you could take the butt doctor toe-to-toe. So maybe a talk with his parents would be the safer choice.
Caven: Good point.
Me: Hey, did Rosalee finish the paper flowers I left for her?
Caven: Sorta. She colored an entire roll of toilet paper then tried to hide it by flushing it down the toilet along with two markers. The plumber just left.
Me: She did not.
Caven: Oh yes she did. But I was kidding about the plumber. I was able to fish everything out with a wire coat hanger from the dry cleaner. Not my finest hour, but it didn’t cost me six hundred dollars either, so I’ll chalk it up as a victory.
Me: Wow.
Caven: Yeah. So that was my night. How was the rest of yours?I blinked at the phone.
Okay… So, now, we were just two people chitty-chatting via text at nine p.m. like this was any given Wednesday night and not the first time in…ever.
I inhaled through my nose. Okay. I could do this. Not a problem.Me: It was good.Yes. That was the smart and intriguing response that would surely incite hours of conversation, break down the barriers between us, and kick off a whole new future.
He’d reached out to me and I’d given him the riveting answer, It was good.
Outstanding!
I leaned my head back against the headboard and cursed my near-superhero abilities to notice what side a man tucks when he dresses, but not reply to a text message with more than three words. It was as if my brain had no idea there was a damn delete button.Caven: Good. I’m glad you’re feeling better. Listen, Rosalee has this end of the year awards ceremony at her preschool on Friday. I promised her I’d invite you. Don’t feel obligated to come or anything.I sat straight up in bed, nearly dropping my phone.Me: I’ll be there!!!My brain screamed a reminder to write more than three damn words.Me: I mean… I would love to come. Thank you so much for inviting me.
Me: She told me she was getting an art award and I desperately wanted to come, but I didn’t want to make things weird if you didn’t want me there. I know things are still tense between us, so I couldn’t blame you.
Me: I just love her so much and I’m trying really hard not to make any waves with you.
Me: And I think for the most part it’s been going really well.
Me: Well, except for tonight when I was dry-heaving in your toilet without lifting the seat.At this point, my brain screamed that one-hundred and two words was probably too many, and I threw my phone on the bed to force my damn non-deleting fingers to stop.
