Page 60 of Something Good
See you then
I stared at the phone until it went dark, then got up and headed for the shower. No way was I going to be able to sleep after that. I might as well go into work early.
The next coupleof days passed in a blur as I spent a significant portion of my time trying to figure out how to deal with the flooding on the cancer clinic job site. April showers had given way to April storms, dropping five inches of rain in a twenty-four-hour period, which, combined with snowmelt upriver, had led to creeks and tributaries overflowing their banks. We’d been sent into a panic to make sure we didn’t incur significant damage to the structure. Thankfully, the sun had made an appearance today, and we’d been able to get a good portion of the site dried out. It looked like we’d be back in business by tomorrow.
Despite the stress, the emergency situation served as a good distraction from my impending lesson with Sammy. He hadn’tsent any additional messages other than the address of his shop, and I hadn’t sent any of my own either.
Still, I’d rushed home from work today, fed Goldie, and then spent a ridiculous amount of time dithering over what to wear. Which was stupid. I’d never cared what I wore around Sammy. He’d never seemed to care either. It had never been about appearances between us. Not that I hadn’t found him hot as fuck, but it had always been about more than that. We’d shared a connection that had run deep, or at least I’d thought it had before he pushed me away.
I’d eventually settled on a Henley and jeans and pulled on the work boots I had on hand for walking the job site, figuring that was probably a good idea if we were going to actually be welding. I honestly wasn’t sure whether that was just a pretense at this point or if he’d actually give me a lesson.
I was probably cutting it close on time by the time Goldie and I climbed into the truck and hit the road, but I couldn’t worry about that. When I hit the county highway outside of Omaha with a jumble of nerves settling in my belly, I called Jason.
“Hey, Will. What’s up?” he answered.
“I’m on my way to see Sammy.”
“You’re going through with that?” I could hear the concern in his tone.
“I have to, J. I think if I don’t, I’ll always wonder.” Silence filled the cab of my truck. “Tell me I’m not making a mistake.”
His sigh was audible over the line. “I don’t think you’re making a mistake. But I won’t lie, Iamconcerned.”
“I know. Me too.” I laughed ruefully. “I just…have to know.”
“Know what? What answers are you hoping to find?”
I’d given this a lot of thought since I’d received that text in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. I was definitely motivated by curiosity about what his life was like now. I wanted to know how he’d become an artist and what had happened to Jimmy. Iwanted to know where he lived and what he looked like. I wanted to know if he was happy. But deep down, I thought what I really wanted to know, after all these years, was why. Why he’d given up on me, onus,so easily.
I wanted to know if he’d ever loved me at all.
“He fucked me up, J. You saw the aftermath in those days between our breakup and when I left for school. I have to know why.”
“Will it change anything? Whatever the answers are to that question, the outcome will still be the same.”
“I know. I do know that. But even after all these years, I can’t let it go. I was married, for fuck’s sake. I thought I’d gotten over it, but looking back, I think there was still some part of me that wasn’t able to move forward. Maybe that’s the real reason my marriage failed. I always held something back from Dmitri, some piece of myself that?—”
“Don’t do that. Dmitri is the one to blame for the failure of your marriage. Maybe you held something back from him, but it wasn’t intentional, and that asshole was cheating on you from the beginning. He groomed you and manipulated you. Don’t give him a pass just because you have some misguided idea that the divorce is somehow your fault.”
I smiled at the ferocity of his tone. He was a gentle giant, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get fired up when someone he cared about had gotten hurt. I was so thankful he hadn’t given up on me, despite the distance I’d put between us.
“Thanks, J.” I pulled off the county highway and onto the gravel drive the GPS indicated would lead to Sammy’s shop. “I’m pulling into the shop now. I better let you go.”
“Okay. Call me after if you need to.”
“I will. Thanks.”
I disconnected the call as I parked my truck next to a black motorcycle out front of what looked like an oversized shed. Islid out of the truck and whistled for Goldie to follow. The large garage door was open to the evening air. I could see all sorts of equipment and tools inside, and sheets of metal in various sizes were stacked against one wall, but I didn’t see any sign of Sammy and was hesitant to enter the shop without him.
While I debated whether to text him that I was there or if I should just call out to him, he stepped out from behind the wall to the left.
My mouth went dry.
His hair had darkened to a dirtier shade of blond and was pulled back at the nape of his neck. He had several hoops in one ear and another at his brow and looked like he needed a shave, though perhaps he wore the scruff that way by choice. Gone was the thin, underfed boy I’d once known. The man in front of me was still slender, but the plain black tee he wore stretched over lean muscle and a trim waist. Work-worn jeans sat low on his hips and hugged muscular thighs. Absently, I wondered what they’d feel like wrapped around me.
My eyes traveled back up to his face, where I caught just a twitch of his lips and a bit of humor in his eyes. He’d clearly enjoyed my perusal.
“Hey there, golden boy.”
