Page 98 of The Meeting
Chase took her hand and pulled her up before they turned to walk inside. Derek followed behind them with the two empty plates of pie that he ate.
The rest of dinner went on in awkward silence, as Kailynn expected. Rob and Derek attempted to make small talk, but eventually gave up. Jane barely spoke, seemingly upset with Chase. Kailynn was thankful when Chase finally said they were leaving. Chase, Derek, and Kailynn drove back to Derek’s house in silence.
Derek said goodnight to them and slipped into his bedroom once they arrived at the house.
By the time Kailynn and Chase crawled under the covers, she was too tired to even broach the subject of anything that happened. She closed her eyes and fell asleep within seconds of her head hitting the pillow.
24
Chase laid awake most of the night, holding Kailynn in his arms. She breathed evenly as she slept. It had been a long first day. They only had one more full day before they would head home on Monday morning.
His mom had surprised him. She wasn’t normally one to press an issue, but he never knew that she harbored old feelings over his split with Allison.
After Kailynn and Derek went out to the porch, she told him she was only scared for him. He had moved away after the split with Allison, and she worried he would move even further if he split with Kailynn.
Her logic made no sense because either way they had to get on a plane to see each other, but he knew it was just her being a mom. She could see how attached he was getting to Kailynn, and it stressed her out to know that he could hurt again.
He spent most of the time trying to convince his mom that Kailynn wasn’t like Allison. And the fact was, his mom actually really loved Kailynn—far more than she ever liked Allison. The prank they pulled had only fueled the fire and scared his mom—something he hadn’t considered. He hadn’t thought she’d fall for it, but when he realized she had and heard all the fears she had for him, he felt guilty.
Kailynn coming with him was more than he could have asked for, but he wondered if maybe he shouldn’t have had her come. He certainly wouldn’t have if he had realized how terribly she’d be treated. It wasn’t so much that they intentionally treated her poorly, and it wasn’t directly aimed at her either. His mom only cared too much about his wellbeing. And, well, the entire town was just nosey.
As the sun rose, he looked down at her peaceful face. She slept soundly, surely exhausted from the prior day’s events. He had already shown her everything he wanted to while there, so the day was free.
Derek’s voice lingered down the hallway, albeit softly. He was up for his morning chores and probably had been for an hour already. Chase considered getting out of bed to help him, but right now, he just wanted to hold Kailynn. Another voice drifted down the hallway, and Chase strained his ears to hear.
It was another man’s voice, so likely a ranch hand. With the sun just now coming up, it couldn’t have been much past 5:30 a.m. Generally, that would mean something was wrong. Chase looked down at Kailynn again before slipping out of bed—doing his best not to wake her. Her eyes fluttered briefly before she snuggled back under the covers and fell asleep.
Chase padded to the door and pulled it open. Derek was at the end of the hallway wearing only his boxers and John was standing a few feet away wearing pants, but was shirtless. They both turned his direction. John’s eyes widened, and he quickly yanked a shirt over his head before making an excuse about needing to attend to the horses and all but running out of the house.
Derek turned around and walked back toward his bedroom, nodding at Chase before slipping inside and shutting the door.
Chase stood motionless.
“Um, okay.” And then he went back into the bedroom to slide back under the covers with Kailynn.
She stirred as he tucked her up against his chest.
“What time is it?” she mumbled.
“The sun is just coming up. Go back to sleep.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
She snuggled back into him and closed her eyes.
They laid in silence for a few minutes, Kailynn’s hand pressed to Chase’s stomach, but her fingers moved, giving away that she was awake.
“The weirdest thing just happened,” he whispered.
“Hmm?”
“I heard voices in the hallway, so I went out to see if something was wrong since John was here so early.”
Kailynn’s hand stilled. “So what happened?”
“I don’t know, honestly. Maybe John needed to borrow a shirt? Who knows?”
She remained quiet, but her hand moved along his stomach again. Normally he would have felt the fire lighting beneath his belly as she made a trail on his skin, but the whole situation he saw struck him as odd.
Derek wasn’t up and moving yet, since he was still in his boxers. And John was shirtless and in the kitchen. Maybe John showed up and spilled coffee on himself and came up to borrow a shirt?
