Page 43 of His Best Friend's Widow
Hey, I’m sorry. I know I said I would call on my way to the airport, but I’m not flying out tonight. The presentation went well, and the clients wanted to go to lunch. Then the team met in the afternoon and worked late to get their revisions done before tomorrow. I’m staying another day. Maybe two. Not sure.
Hailey’s heart sank as Charlotte and Ellie tugged on her arms and said they were hungry for the hundredth time. She hadn’t gotten dinner ready before practice, so they would have to eat afterward. “Just a few more minutes,” she told them. But in her mind, she couldn’t focus on dinner. How much longer would Landon be gone? She shook her head, reminding herself she wasn’t supposed to depend on him. He had his work, and this was her responsibility. Yes, it was nice to have his help, but once again, she had to handle the kids and their life on her own.
21
Landon couldn’t remember when he’d been so tired. Thursday’s meeting had turned into three days of meetings with the clients and the team in Dallas. The company loved his ideas, and they wanted to move forward as quickly as possible. Landon was thrilled, but they wanted to make a few changes, and sign contracts on Monday. Landon had worked non-stop through Saturday afternoon until he boarded the plane to Tennessee. They wanted him to stay for the contract signing Monday morning, but he declined, saying the team could handle it.
All he wanted to do was get back to Twin Creeks.
Now it was Sunday morning, and he would guess he’d had five hours of sleep. After his flight was delayed, and his bags were lost, he finally made it home after midnight. He had barely remembered to text Hailey to let her know he’d arrived before his head hit the pillow.
No matter how tired he was, he wasn’t going to miss church this morning. He hurried through the foyer, even though he was at least five minutes late. He glanced at his watch. Make that ten minutes. Moving through the sanctuary doors, he glanced around to see where Hailey and the kids were. He grimaced when he saw they were all the way down front. He pasted on a smile and moved down the aisle as the church sang a worship song.
He tried not to worry, but was everyone really staring at him as he walked right to Hailey’s row and squeezed past the kids to sit by her? Once in the row, he met her eyes and mouthed, “Hi.” He wanted to wrap her in a hug right then and there, but he restrained himself.
Hailey responded with a small wave, but she didn’t smile like she had before. Maybe she was just tired. He knew Carter had a soccer game yesterday, and Charlotte had an afternoon gymnastics meet. That was a lot to handle on her own.
Inwardly, he groaned that he hadn’t been there, but what could he do? He couldn’t exactly tell Mr. Benton, sorry I can’t go to Texas. That just wasn’t what he did. Not if he liked his job and wanted to be promoted. As the final notes of the song played, the pastor walked on stage and motioned for everyone to sit down.
Landon sat down next to Hailey, with Carter on his other side. He told himself not to think about the weekend and focus on the message. There would be plenty of time to spend with Hailey and the kids later this afternoon. He put his hand to his mouth to cover a yawn. No, he couldn’t do that. He hadn’t even unpacked his suitcase, and he had to get ready for the week ahead. He sighed. Hailey would understand if he needed to catch up today, and then he could go over for dinner after work Monday. They could talk then.
As hard as he tried, he couldn’t focus on the sermon. He stared at the words in the Bible on his lap as the pastor read them, but it wasn’t sinking in. This wasn’t who he was. He hated giving less than his best to anything, especially to church. But the best he could do was try to keep his eyes open.
After the final prayer, the pastor dismissed the congregation. Landon turned to Hailey. How was it possible he was sitting next to her, but felt so far away?
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey,” he replied, but that was the only word he got out before Carter tugged on his arm and started telling him about the soccer game.
Landon smiled and nodded, giving the boy his attention. When Carter took a breath after telling Landon about the two goals he scored, Landon looked back at Hailey.
“How was your day?”
Hailey took in a big breath and blew it out. “Busy,” she said. “Good, though. Carter played great, and Charlotte had her best meet yet.”
Landon frowned. “I’m sorry I missed it.”
Hailey shrugged. “It’s alright. You couldn’t help it.”
Landon nodded. “Right. But I’m here now.”
“Do you want to come over for lunch?”
Landon covered another yawn. “I would love to. But I barely slept, and I don’t know if I’ll be very good company. Plus I’ve got some things I need to do around the house. What if I come over for dinner tomorrow night?”
He saw the disappointment in Hailey’s eyes before she dropped her gaze to the floor. “Sure. I know you’re tired.”
Landon wasn’t sure what to say next. He wanted to take her hand in his and say he knew she was tired too. But what would the kids say? And what would the church members surrounding them think if they saw him holding her hand? Everyone here had known Kyle. It was surprising enough that he was sitting next to her in church. He didn’t need to give people something to talk about. He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. I wish I could.”
“It’s okay. Kids, say bye to Landon. We need to get home.”
Each of the kids said goodbye to him as they moved out of the pew. Landon watched them go, and Hailey turned back to wave, but didn’t say anything else.
He sighed just before another yawn escaped. It was true, he wouldn’t be any good to anybody until he got some sleep.
Still, as he walked up the aisle and out of church, he couldn’t help but think of all he had missed over the weekend. And if he had to travel again, he wondered how much more he would miss in the days to come.
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