Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 68074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Icouldn’t wait to get up and going the next day. Macy barely had time to feed the kids breakfast before I was jumping on her to get going. I hadn’t felt right for the past few days, and my stomach protested all the movement. I had taken it easy on breakfast, but there was still something sour down south. I wondered if it was the stress of the move or if maybe I was coming down with something. I didn’t want the kids to get sick, so I kept my distance except when they hugged me goodbye.
Climbing into the car with Macy, I winced.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“My stomach isn’t happy,” I said, rubbing it above the seat belt.
“Too much excitement?” Macy asked.
“I think so,” I agreed.
“Let’s get moving. I want to be home by lunch.” Macy shifted into gear, and the car chugged down the hill toward the road.
“Am I doing the right thing?” I asked suddenly.
Macy put her foot on the brake, just about to emerge from the trees. “Should I turn around?”
“No,” I said quickly, “keep going. I said I would share the cabin, and I will. At least for now. I think I’m just scared.”
“That makes sense.” Macy nodded. “I don’t know how much you know about how Dillon and I met, but it was under less-than-ideal circumstances.”
“Oh?” I asked. I knew nothing about their relationship, other than that they were happy together. I had always thought it had been something romantic like a secret cruise or spur-of-the-moment vacation that had taken them off the grid for several months.
“We had to share our cabin before we even knew each other,” she said. “And it was hard. I admit, I got angry sometimes.”
“At Dillon?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine anyone getting angry at him. He didn’t do much or say much beyond providing support to his family.
“Well, I didn’t know him then,” she repeated.
“So, you’re saying I should do it?” I guessed.
“I’m saying I understand that it’s scary. You don’t have to do it, but if you want to try it out for a couple weeks, you can always use us as an excuse if it doesn’t work out.” Macy pulled onto the highway, headed for Nashville where we could rent a U-Haul.
“I really like Mike,” I said dreamily. I couldn’t help it—just his name on my lips made me feel all warm inside. “But I thought I liked Greg when I moved in with him, and that ended disastrously.”
“Greg is not the same as Mike,” Macy said firmly.
I sat back in my seat, thinking about Mike’s expert caresses and Greg’s sweaty palms. They certainly weren’t the same. And Macy was right—I could always go back to couch surfing if it didn’t work out. Or Mike had suggested staying until I found my own place, if that was what I wanted. It seemed like there were enough possibilities that I wasn’t boxing myself in. But if that was the case, why did my stomach still seem so fragile?
We made it to the outskirts of Nashville, to the closest truck rental place. I paid for a full day, and I drove Macy’s car back to Singer’s Ridge while she drove the truck. It took us another half hour to reach the storage unit where I had stashed my stuff. As we had expected, Mr. Bradley was more than happy to help us empty out my locker. There was a respectable amount of furniture, but not enough that the three of us couldn’t handle it.
Afterward, the owner of the storage company offered us lemonade, which we accepted gratefully. We sat in the air-conditioned office for a moment, chatting about hair. The owner was a client, and I had scheduled her several times for trims and colorings.
Having quenched our thirst, we said goodbye to the first two people I had seen upon arriving to town and headed up to the mountains. Pulling off Deer Tail Road, we took a short trip up the driveway and parked. Mike was already there, his truck giving him away. He came onto the porch after hearing the unmistakable sound of the moving truck. I had an urge to run to him, like some lovesick little girl romping through a field of daisies, but I stifled it. He was my new roommate, not my knight in shining armor.
Mike came down the porch steps to greet me, just as another, older gentleman appeared at the door. Macy emerged from the U-Haul, slamming the door. Mike kissed me on the lips, a sweet, chaste kiss the kind I had seen my parents share when I was a kid.
“Welcome home,” Mike whispered, picking up my hand. He led me forward, up the steps to greet his companion. “This is my dad. Dad, this is Tammy.”
“Pleased to meet you—” I began, before Mike’s dad wrapped me in a hug so large it startled me. I laughed, wondering why I was surprised that Mike’s dad would be so affectionate. Wasn’t his son?