Page 108 of Take My Heart
‘Yeah, open it!’ I yell back.
Brody bought me champagne, another sweet gesture. He doesn’t even like champagne, but he overheard me telling Lyndsay how much I love it. He said he got it to celebrate us finishing the house, but I know he’d rather have a bottle of whiskey or a case of beer.
‘Did you open it?’ I ask, coming into the kitchen.
Brody slowly smiles when he sees me. ‘What’s this?’
‘It’s your Valentine’s gift.’ I spin around. ‘You like it?’
I’m wearing one of his flannel shirts with nothing underneath it and unbuttoned enough for my boobs to show.
‘Hell yeah, I like it.’ He kisses me, his hands sliding under the shirt.
‘Did you pour the champagne?’
‘Forget the champagne. We’ve got other things to do.’
We make love right there in the kitchen. Then we go in his room and have the champagne and talk about random things, like places we want to visit and our favorite movies, pretending tonight is just like any other night and not the night before I’m leaving.
At midnight, Brody falls asleep but I’m wide awake, the knot in my stomach getting tighter as the minutes pass by, bringing me closer to the time I have to leave. Two hours later, Brody gets up to get a drink, and when he comes back we make love again. For the last time.
In the morning, Jill arrives at eight, a half hour early.
‘She’s here,’ I say to Brody as I zip up my suitcase. ‘Can you get the door?’
‘I thought she was coming at 8:30.’
‘She’s early.’ I race to the bathroom to gather up my things as Brody goes to get the door.
I’m annoyed that Jill’s early. I wanted time alone with Brody before she got here, time to say goodbye.
‘So you’re Brody?’ I hear Jill say.
‘Yeah. It’s nice to meet you. Kate’s told me a lot about you.’
‘Hope it was all good,’ she says with a laugh.
‘Of course it was good,’ I say, coming into the living room with my suitcase. I smile and give Jill a hug. ‘How was the drive?’
‘Fine, but I almost missed the turnoff for Haydon Falls. I was listening to a podcast and wasn’t paying attention.’ She checks her phone. ‘We need to get going. I’m meeting Marla for lunch and I don’t want to be late.’
‘I’ll take your bag to the car,’ Brody says, being all business-like, showing no emotion. Meanwhile, I’m a mess, my eyes tearing up, my heart beating like crazy.
‘I’m going to do one last check,’ I say as Brody follows Jill out the door. ‘Make sure I didn’t miss anything.’
I look around the living room, then the kitchen. I didn’t forget anything. I’m just trying to kill time because I’m not ready to go.
‘Kate.’ I turn around and see Brody standing at the door. ‘Your sister’s waiting in the car.’
On my way over to him, I grab my coat from the chair and put it on. ‘So I guess this is it.’
‘Yeah.’ He looks down, then back at me. ‘Have a safe trip.’ He smiles a little. ‘Try not to go in a ditch.’
‘Can I call you?’
‘Of course you can call me. We never said we wouldn’t talk to each other again.’
‘Maybe it’d be easier if we didn’t.’
