Page 22 of Jilted Jock
“Don’t remind me. It was awful. I mean, the kids were adorable, but they didn’t sleep for all six hours and not even my noise cancelling headphones helped. One of the little boys put his hand right in the middle of my salad, spilled my water… It was a very long flight.”
“Where were you?” Aubrey asked Richard.
I elbowed him playfully. “He was up in first class sleeping while I was stuck in the back of the plane.”
We both chuckled, but when I glanced up, Chance had a weird expression on his face.
“What?” I asked him.
“Why didn’t you sit together?”
“He got upgraded and I didn’t.”
My brother nodded but I could tell he didn’t approve for some reason.
When we got back to my place, Richard and I changed for bed in silence. It wasn’t until we were both under the covers that he brought up moving to New York again.
“I’m dying to know what you think.”
“I’m really excited for you,” I told him honestly. “You’ve worked really hard for this.”
“But?”
“No buts.”
“So, you’ll come with me?” His face lit up.
“What would that look like? I just quit my job here? What if I can’t find something there? I have some savings, but—”
“I can put you in touch with the headhunter we’ve hired to fill the positions in the New York office. I don’t think you’ll have any problem finding a job there.”
“And we’d live together?”
“Of course. You want that, right?”
What woman didn’t want her boyfriend to ask her to move across the country to be with him? If I was honest, I wasn’t sure I did, but those were my issues and had nothing to do with him. I liked routine and stability and this disrupted that. My steady and reliable boyfriend had just shaken up my world. Go figure.
But I loved him for asking and for wanting us to be together, so I said the thing you’re supposed to say knowing it was going to be uncomfortable, but that it was right. Relationships were about sacrifice after all.
“Yes. I want that too.”
I laid awake after Richard fell asleep. I went over and over it trying to imagine my life in New York. A distant meow pulled me from bed, and I padded across the house. Kitty was in the spare room with the door shut. It was quiet and dark, and I hadn’t heard Finn come in, so I knocked lightly and then opened it a crack. Kitty came barreling out, did a lap around the living room, and then followed me into the kitchen. I grabbed a sparkling water and a bowl of strawberries.
I ate and drank standing up and leaning against the counter while kitty walked along the granite demanding I pet her.
“You were lonely in there, huh?”
She meowed in answer and I picked her up. Her purr made everything seem so silly. Why wasn’t I ecstatic about a real-life adventure? It wasn’t exactly Bear Grylls level bravery, but this could be fun. An opportunity to prove to Chance, Aubrey, and to myself that I could do this.
I put on some music and twirled, dancing my troubles away with kitty. She liked it at first until I got a little carried away and tried to lift her Patrick Swayze style over my head. She jumped with so much force it propelled me back and onto my ass.
“What in the hell are you doing to my cat?”
With my back to the door, and my ass still firmly planted on the hardwood, I closed my eyes and wondered if I could scoot into my bedroom without having to explain.
While I considered it, his heavy steps got closer and then there he was looking down at me, blue eyes dancing with laughter and a smug smile on his lips.
With the cat in one hand, he pulled me to my feet with the other, so I was standing close to him. Too close. I could smell the faint cologne he wore, and I wanted to lean in closer to get a better whiff.
