Page 14 of Worth the Fall
I unzipped my suitcase and took out some slippers. There was no way I was putting a bare foot on the carpet older than I was.
Bzzz….Bzzz…Bzzz
“Hello?”
“Evening.”
“Hi, Harrison,” I said as I opened my laptop on the small desk. “How are you?”
“Missing you. How was the flight?” He was probably at home, watching a golf game, and drinking. He liked his routines almost as much as I did.
“Aw, I miss you too,” I lied with a twinge of guilt. “It was interesting, a woman talked my ear off the whole time.”
“I hate when I sit next to the chatty ones.”
“But then I immediately had to go to the meeting with the board, which was odd, and then right to the rodeo. If you can imagine, I’m a little tired,” I said with a small laugh.
I typed in the National Rodeo Tour’s website to start finding some facts to put in my first impression presentation.
He snorted back, and I could hear him take a slurp out of his drink. “How was the rodeo?”
My heart fluttered when Colton Nash’s picture popped up on the website, bragging about his ride. “Intense,” I muttered. I slammed the laptop closed.
Colton had made his way back behind the shoots, greeted a cowgirl, and kissed her. I had to stop fantasizing about the cowboy. I’ll admit, his incredible ride had lit a fire in me I thought was put out a long, long time ago, but that’s all it was.
I missed the rodeo. I saw a very handsome man do something very manly. That’s all it was.
“When do you leave for your trip?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Are you excited?”
“Yes, though I’ll be there for a while, so it’ll get old fast.”
I sighed.
Sometimes, on the weekends, I’d walk through the park, stopping at a bench or the waterfront. I liked to people-watch. I liked to listen to the different ways couples would talk to each other. Some would bicker, and others would not have anything to say. My favorite ones to eavesdrop on were the ones that would finish each other’s sentences or never run out of things to say. “How long?”
“Two weeks.”
I pulled my itinerary out of a manila folder. “So you will be there next weekend?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I’ll be in your neighborhood. We could have lunch and get a hotel or something.”
He set down his drink. “I would really love that.”
“It’s a date.”
“Love you. Talk to you later.”
“Bye, Harrison.”
Click
I smiled again. I couldn’t wait to see him; maybe it would pull my stomach out of its knot. I thought about calling Martha and telling her about the cowboy, but I was so tired I could barely think. I pulled back the top comforter, dropping it on the floor, and climbed into the purple sheets.
