Page 62 of An Ex Affair

But before I raced out of Blueball, I stopped the truck and ran in to let Sofia know where I was going. I asked her if she’d take care of Hayes for a few days and she didn’t blink an eye. She mentioned she didn’t care for Joselyn either, which only made me feel marginally better. She told me she’d keep my location a secret, but only after I promised to come back and speak to Tully like a grown-ass adult. And that was a direct quote. Sofia didn’t cuss much, so you best believe I took that promise seriously.

If Tully noticed I’d left the carriage house, she didn’t call my phone or run down the driveway to stop me. So I left, headed for the airport with a whole chest full of heartache.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Tully

Joselyn had been tryingto wear me down for days now. Showing up in Blueball had been just another tool in her tool belt of bossy bullshit. I’d hoped to get rid of her before Colson got back from his long shift. I knew seeing her name on my phone brought him anxiety about us as a couple. I couldn’t imagine the racing thoughts he’d have seeing her here, in the carriage house where we’d come back together again. But then he’d surprised me again, pushing me to sit down with her rather than kicking her out.

“This is the best contract I’ve seen in years, Tully! Do you see those zeroes? The bonuses if it gets picked up for a second season? This kind of deal doesn’t just get dropped in your lap every day!” Joselyn waved the stack of papers in my face.

I pushed her hand down and shot her a patient smile. She was just doing her job, and as of a few months ago, I would have jumped all over the offer. She just didn’t understand how much my dreams had shifted being back home.

“Joselyn. Thank you.” She opened her mouth to celebrate winning me over, but I beat her to the punch. “But I’m not signing that.”

Her gorgeous face crumpled as much as it could given the limits she’d injected into it on a regular basis. “But…but your friends!”

I nodded. “I know. It’s a lot of money to turn down, but I talked to all of them yesterday and they support me on this decision.” I reached over and squeezed her hand. “You’ve done such an excellent job for me and I appreciate you so much. But I’m done with Hollywood. Focus your incredible talents on someone else. Please.”

Joselyn snapped her mouth shut and stared at me like she was trying to figure out when I’d turned into an alien. Someone she no longer understood.

“But…why?” she finally whispered.

I thought it through before I answered. I wanted to make sure my answer encompassed everything that had been circling in my brain the last few weeks as I fell back in love with Colson, Blueball, the second half of my life.

“Because when I chased my dreams in Hollywood, they made me happy for awhile, then left me empty. Someone other than me could snatch it away at any moment. When I chase my dreams of love and family and friendship here in my hometown, it makes me happy indefinitely. No one can take it away from me. I don’t expect you to understand, and that’s okay. It’s enough thatIunderstand myself.”

Joselyn’s surprised expression bled into sadness, and then into something that looked like acceptance. “You’re right. I don’t understand, but I did get to know you over the years, Tully Starling, and you’re a firecracker. The camera makes you even shorter than you are in real life, but you’re mighty. Whatever you put your mind to, I know you’ll succeed. And if Blueball and thathandsome man with the sexy mustache is what you want, then I’m happy for you.”

“Thank you.” I hugged her, and for the first time in our working relationship, it wasn’t air kisses and a quick pat. We hugged, chest to chest, two women wanting the best for the other, even if we didn’t agree on what that best looked like.

She pulled back, her eyes sparkling again. “Now, show me the way to the hotel I booked in town. I have plans to put on a flannel shirt tomorrow and see if Hallmark was right all these years.”

“What?”

Joselyn shimmied her shoulders and stood. “I’m the big-city woman, coming to a small town. Surely I’ll run into a Prince Charming lumberjack tomorrow!”

I shook my head, laughing. Joselyn was a piece of work, but I liked her. I escorted her to her car with simple directions to the bed-and-breakfast in downtown Blueball. I waved until the car was out of sight. Then I hustled over to Mama’s, thinking that’s where Colson would have gone to hide from Joselyn.

“Mama!” I hollered, walking in the front door without knocking.

“In here!” she called back.

I found her in her chair, working on a pile of sewing like usual. Hayes lifted his head from the floor where he was keeping Mama company. “Where’s Colson?”

Mama jabbed the needle into the cloth, not bothering to look at me. “He’s gone.”

I reared back, both at her tone and the words. “Gone? What do you mean?” I sank onto the couch and tried to get in her line of vision since she seemed determined to ignore me. I bobbed left, then right. She finally sighed and put her sewing in her lap to look me in the eye.

“What did you do?” she snapped.

My hand slapped my chest. “What did I do? What do you mean?”

“Colson said he was heading out of the town for a day or two. He looked…”

A sense of alarm trickled into my veins. “He looked…what?”

Mama’s eyes filled with tears, ratcheting up my fear. “He looked haunted. Sad. The same way he looked nineteen years ago.”

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