Page 49 of Starting Our Chance

27 Duke

I had a few hours tokeep busy before I saw my girl again. Instead of spot cleaning my house or preparing her dinner, I let some destructive thoughts play through my head. Our first fight was fresh in the history books. Sure, we had squabbled as kids, but it didn’t feel as critical as this fight had been. Now all I wanted to do was make up because I knew a clean slate was coming—Lore wasn’t petty, and we would be just fine. It was the deeper wounds that were bothering me.

I criticized myself for taking so long to be with this girl. And now that I had her, I was damn scared that even though I could lay the world at her feet—give her every material object her heart desired, I may still be lacking. Why was I so stupid to rush in and play the white knight? It was clear that she really didn’t want that in her man.

I want to be her man forever.There were deep rooted feelings that I hadn’t let myself acknowledge yet—because my pessimistic side said that what we had was too good to be true.

As I crossed the pasture, I took some deep breaths, which had suddenly become hard to do. My chest was pinched tight and it felt as though my knees couldn’t bear my weight anymore. Grabbing for the fence, I leaned against it. Clearly, feeling like a fish out of water was physiological as well as mentally induced.

Fuck. I didn’t take my meds this morning.

An inhaler was always in my pocket—my life raft. Fumbling for the button, I managed to reach inside the flannel. My hand was shaking as I brought the tube of medicine to my lips, and I cursed the heavens as I drew in a long breath. Although my airways began to do what they were supposed to do, it was a battle. This was why I could never join my friends when they signed up to be Marines. Instead, I’d had to stay behind and work my fingers to the bone in order to build my empire.

Yet, what good was that empire in the end? I had all the money in the world, but the woman I needed by my side wanted to forge her own path. Nothing of mine was of sufficient worth to her. All I had to do was go to her. And I knew without a shadow of a doubt that all my misgivings about our relationship would dissipate.

The medicine began to settle into my throat, and my lungs popped open as a satisfying weight was lifted off my chest. I gulped the sweet autumn air and took a few more moments of respite before striding for my woman.

Fear still coiled in my chest. All I needed to do was talk to her—to tell her that I was petrified of losing her. But when I pushed through the front door of the house, I could tell by the heavy silence that no one was downstairs, although judging by Mrs. Foreman’s and Bobby’s vehicles out front, they were home somewhere.

Deciding to avoid the creaky stairs, I went back outside to shimmy up the back porch. Scaling the rickety porch was an easy feat. I balanced on the old limbs of an ancient apple tree and scampered up the shady trellis, which leaned against the back porch.

I perched on the roof and squared my shoulders.

Before tapping on Lore’s glass window, I peered inside but couldn’t see all of her bed. I decided to sneak in without waking her. I would take a moment to look at her sleeping visage before pulling her tight body to mine and kissing her awake. I pressed on the window and was about to raise it up when I realized that Lore wasn’t in her bed.

A wave of disappointment crashed over me. But then I remembered her affinity for baths and I got greedy picturing the naked, soapy body I would soon discover.

I dropped into her room and strode to the bathroom. Peering inside, I didn’t see the glow of candles or feel the humidity of a warm room. It was empty. Lore wasn’t upstairs.

~*~

MRS. FORMAN HAD ALWAYSkept the personal side of her life locked up tight. Given her position at church, she didn’t flaunt what her and Bobby had going on.

However, knowing that Bobby and Mrs. Forman were on the other side of the door did not stop me from barging through. I had seen his truck and her car outside, and I knew they were upstairs, just down the hall from where I had been in Lore’s bedroom a few moments ago. Since Lore’s vehicle wasn’t out front, I had the most horrible of theories running through my mind.

However, when I shoved open that door, I got a front row seat to a show that I had never wanted to see. Mrs. Forman was in something red and lacy, and on her knees in front of Bobby who was as naked as a babe with the body of a grizzly bear. Shielding my eyes, I croaked, “Loretta is gone.”

“Get out of here!” Mrs. Forman shrieked.

“No, you don’t understand,” I said, and my voice rang hollow to my own ears. “Loretta Jane took off again. She’s gone.”

Twenty minutes later, everyone was dressed, and I sat with Bobby at the kitchen table. While we waited for Mrs. Forman to check outside, I learned that Bobby and Mrs. Forman had gotten themselves engaged no more than an hour ago, and therefore decided to celebrate in the manner I had caught them in upstairs. Bobby had clapped me on the shoulder and wryly thanked me for interrupting his first blow job in years. “Hadn’t been able to convince her to do that until I went and put a rock on her finger,” he added—again, too much information. “I’m going to have to speed up the wedding now.”

Although I was incredibly happy for the older generation, I drummed my fingers into the scarred wood.

“Loretta wasn’t answering her phone,” Mrs. Forman said as she came into the house, slamming the porch door behind her.

Banging my fist into the table top, I barked, “I know that—”

“Because her phone was sitting on the wicker table,” Mrs. Forman cut me off, holding up the device with raised a brow. “I doubt she skipped town and left this fool thing behind.”

She didn’t leave me?Although the hope took a soaring jump, it was suddenly knocked back down as another reason as to why Lore was gone came crashing into my mind—her old boss.

It had to be! There was no other explanation. Grabbing fistfuls of my too short hair, I internally berated myself for not considering the option. Our trip out of town had put that reality in the backs of our minds.

In the next second, I was dialing Felicity. Although my friend’s wife had no answers, I knew I had an ace up my sleeve with her. With a breath of hope, I left Mrs. Foreman and Bobby to it and drove into town to meet my friends.

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