Page 96 of Almost Perfect
Heat flooded my cheeks, and she raised a brow, then pursed her lips a little. “Yes, all of them. I know you got close, and I have to say I’m proud of you—it seems like you really have turned over a new leaf and are going for it. I know she had to go deal with the gossip stuff. And I know she’s back here, but that she spent the night at the rental, not your place, last night, and is leaving tomorrow.”
I straightened as something brutal and sharp stabbed me in the gut. “What? She’s leaving tomorrow?”
“That’s what War said.” She shrugged.
Panic flooded me, and I shot to my feet. “Do you know where she is now?”
“I imagine you could call her to find—”
“Mom, I love you, but this isn’t helping. You’re right—she’s different. I thought that was a bad thing, or wrong, or… I don’t know. I’m an idiot, obviously. But I’m in love with her, and I can’t let her leave here without at least telling her that. Something tells me if I don’t, I’ll never get the chance.”
She smiled her proud mom smile as she stood and grabbed my hands with both of hers. “Then you better get to work.”
I squeezed her hands, then jogged out the door yelling, “Love you, Mom. Be safe tonight.”
“You too! And good luck!”
I hustled into my truck and started driving. I grabbed my phone, pulled up her number, then tossed the device on the seat in protest. No, I didn’t want to call her and have this conversation while driving, and if I got her on the phone, I’d be too wound up to make sense anyway, since my phone skills were weak at best. I wouldn’t text, either. So I’d just get to her place, all the damn way back up the mountain, and hope she hadn’t left for her dinner with her friends yet.
I rehearsed different ways this could go in my head on the drive there, and though the road stretched out and doubled in distance, I made it. But as soon as I pulled up in front of the cottage, I knew she’d left, and something told me she had been for a while. I tried the door, and it swung open.
“Calla? You here?” No answer, so I flicked on a light and knew for certain she was gone. No pile of shoes inside the door. No coats on the hook by the closet. No fire burning at all.
My spirits sank, even though some part of me had expected this. I dialed Warrick.
“Where is she?”
“Hi, Wyatt. How are you doing?”
I groaned, irritation flooding me. “I am bad. I’m at the cottage and Calla isn’t here. Do you know where she is?”
“In fact, I do.”
My jaw clenched. “So help me, I swear by all that is—”
“She’s at the hotel. She texted me earlier today to say thanks, that she’s paying through the weekend as promised—and I couldn’t argue that—and thanked me for a wonderful time here in Silverton.” His words punched out, like he was throwing them at me.
“You sound pissed.”
“I am. At you. Because you’re an idiot.”
“Me?”
“Yup. You. Mr. High and Mighty, I have to do the right thing, I have to hide myself away and live a hermit’s life all the while wishing I had something different, and when something different walks in, I bungle it all to hell and lose it.”
I shut my eyes and drew in a long, slow breath. This kid was trying my patience, but I couldn’t deny his summary of events, however harsh, was also fairly accurate. Or, they had been. I’d screwed everything up, and I hadn’t even been operating in my old fallback pattern of holding myself separate from real life. Still, he didn’t have to be such an ass. “How helpful, Warrick. Just as I’m about to try to track her down and confess my feelings and trynotto lose her, you’re over there lecturing—”
“Why didn’t you say so? Get yourself together, message the woman, and come talk to her. Unless you pushed her away so hard, she won’t talk to you, I think it’s worth a shot.”
Hope shot up in rows in my heart. “You think?”
I pulled into my garage and hustled into the house.
“Anyone who’s seen you two together thinks.”
Okay, maybe I didn’t want to strangle him. “Thanks, War. I’ll be heading back down in just a bit.”
“’Bout time you made your play. Here’s hoping it isn’t too late.”
