Page 54 of No Apologies
When she got out of the shower, she checked the time and grinned. She was going to be early to work for once. Her body must have woken her when it sensed Colt had left because there was no other explanation for why she would have been awake so early.
She was not a morning person and on top of that it was a long standing joke among her friends that she thought clocks were mere suggestions and not hard facts. She was almost always running late. But really, after spending her entire childhood on a strict timetable that had included doctor visits and daily medications, nobody could really blame her for being a little lax about her schedule.
Well, let them all take note today. She intended to call each and every one of her friends to point out how early she was up. Getting to wake them up for a change was going to be hella fun actually so she looked around for her phone and then grimaced.
Shit. Another long standing joke was that she would lose her head if it wasn’t attached and as she stood in the living room, searching for her cell phone, she knew that it was true. Stupid phone. She lost it at least once a week. Well, not lost, she liked to call it misplaced because she did always find it. Or if not always, then usually. There had been two or five occasions when it had never turned up and she’d been forced to replace it but today wasn’t going to be one of those days.
She was running ahead of schedule. She had plenty of time to find it. She’d still be early to work… probably.
The phone was in the apartment. She knew that much. She’d been talking to Jemma on it last night before Colt showed up and thoroughly scrambled her brain and her life.
She’d gone through all of her evening rituals with the thing lodged between her shoulder and ear as her best friend gabbed on and on about her magical trip with her fiancé. She loved Jemma. She did. But calling a trip to Kansas to visit her dad at his rig site and let him know she had gotten knocked up and engaged, in that order, were not Skylar’s idea of magical.
Then again, anything involving Cash was magic as far as Jemma was concerned. The man was sweet and kind and doting. He was head over heels in love with his girl and he had no problem admitting it or showing it. So yeah, the impromptu vacation probably had been pretty great because alone on the road and in hotels was still alone which was more privacy than they ever got when they were home.
The reminder of their living arrangements soured Skylar’s mood all over again as she continued her search for the phone. She loved having Jemma as a roommate. There was always someone around to talk to, hang with and complain to. She liked her independence and all but she was really going to miss Jemma when she returned from her trip and finished moving her things next door.
She seriously needed to run that whole roommate swap idea past Cash. It wasn’t a terrible idea, she reassured herself. It was logical really.
Cash and Jemma needed their privacy. They were starting their life together. Their adult, grown-up family life. They were going to get married soon and not long after that baby Bomar would grace the world with his screaming, crying, up all night presence.
Colt didn’t need that in his life. He shouldn’t be a part of that. He needed to move out, even if he and Cash would neither one admit it to themselves. They were both too hard headed to admit that they weren’t in fact conjoined twins and it was time to separate. Jemma was too sweet to tell Colt to take a hike and give them space. That was where she came in.
Two birds, one stone. Colt needed out of that apartment. She wanted a new roommate. More importantly, she wanted him with her and thought if she had him close it would be a lot easier to convince him he wanted her too. It was win-win-win really.
Katy Perry belting about fireworks jolted Skylar up from where she’d been digging in the sofa cushions and she listened intently, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. Bedroom. She headed down the hallway and the ringing stopped. It didn’t matter though, because as soon as she’d identified that it was in the bedroom she knew where she was going to find it.
She grinned as she rounded her bed and saw that the phone was sitting on the nightstand as if it had been there all along. It had. It just wasn’t whereshe’dleft it. She might be forgetful but she knew for a fact that she hadn’t brought the phone in here and plugged it in so that it would be fully charged for her to go to work today.
No. She hadn’t done that but she knew who had. Colt. Her heart thumped too hard in her chest and she bit her lip to stifle a smile even though she was alone. It was such a sweet, thoughtful gesture. Completely at odds with the man that claimed he was no good and couldn’t give her what she needed, what she deserved.
Okay, so maybe she went a little weak-kneed when he did sweet things like this but that was different. These were the kinds of things boyfriends were supposed to do. It was the kind of caretaking that normal people did. Not the yo-yo, push-pull, over the top stuff where he was mean to her in order to save her. That was crap. This, this was so sweet she wanted to hug him.
Skylar pulled the phone from the charger and checked her messages. There were two texts from Billie from the night before and she winced as she remembered they’d been discussing getting together before Colt knocked on her door. She would have to text her friend back and apologize for the distraction. Maybe they could get drinks and girl talk tonight since Jemma was still out of town. God knew she could use some female advice about what to do with Colt after the events of last night.
While Jemma had maintained her title of best friend throughout the five years she’d been away at college and then living in Texas, Billie ran a close second place. The three of them had forged a friendship back in school that stuck. As different as night and day maybe, but childhood friendships didn’t care about money or neighborhoods or upbringings. They were an unlikely trio but they’d seen each other through hard times.
With Jemma out of town, and so closely related to Colt now, Billie was her obvious go to for advice.
She punched out a quick message to her friend, knowing it was unlikely the bartender was up at this hour, and then switched to her voicemail. One glance at the missed call told her that she should have checked it first. Her assistant, Rachel, only ever called in case of emergency and as she listened to the message she groaned because it was exactly that.
“Sk-Sk-Skylar? It’s Rachel.” The younger girl’s voice came through the line so softly she had to turn the volume on the speaker up and she winced when she heard the nervous stutter, “Um, there’s a pr-pr-problem at the salon. I just got here and… well… the front window is busted. There’s glass everywhere. It looks like so-so-somebody threw a brick through the windows of the entire building. I don’t know what to do. Can you… uh, call me or get down here? P-p-please. Ok, thank you. Bye.”
Skylar rubbed her eyes as she listened to the message a second time. Somebody threw something through her windows? What the hell was that all about? Why would anyone do that? It was probably kids having a little fun, going a little wild, but destruction of property was not cool and she was going to have their asses in a sling when she figured out who it was.
First she had to deal with the mess though and that meant her shop would need to be closed until she could get it fixed. If she phoned her brother she might be able to get him and his friends to board it up for the time being at least. There was no telling from that message if there was more damage inside the shop though and she was already trying to figure up the costs to replace the giant windows that framed the entire storefront when the phone began to ring in her hand again.
The number that pulled up was from the salon this time and she picked up even as she hurriedly grabbed clothes from her closet, “Hey Rach, sorry I missed…”
“Sky, it’s me.”
She stopped short. The shirt in her hand frozen in mid-air. The phone tucked between her shoulder and ear. Everything stopped except for the pounding of her heart when she heard that all too familiar, deep, baritone voice and for a split second she thought she was hallucinating again.
“Skylar?” Colt repeated, “You there?”
“Yeah. Sorry.” She cleared her throat and prayed her voice sounded steadier than she felt, “I was expecting Rachel.”
“I figured.” He cleared his throat too and she wondered if he was as nervous as she was.
