Page 44 of Whiskey Weather
My fingers close around the claw clip at the back of my head, adjusting it to distract myself. She makes a good point. There might be a flaw in my reasoning, I’ll admit. I can’t expect to livethe rest of my life without re-molding little parts of it to give love a fighting chance.
Love. I internally eye roll and stop my thoughts before I get too far ahead of myself. It’s too quick for that sort of talk.
Simone tops off our glasses of white wine and then places the bottle back in the mini fridge behind the couch.
“So, just put myself out there? Move and change my schedule? Lay it all out on the line? It’s risky.”
“I don’t know, I wouldn’t go that far,” she jokes. Her hand grips the stem of her wine glass, and she sits back down across from me. “You don’t have to do all that. But what if this is it? What if he’s the one, but you’ll never know because you’re too damn stubborn, and you never had time to even hang out again?”
“God, this is brutal,” I moan with a hand on my forehead.
“Could you meet up when you get back next week?”
“His parents are going on a cruise for their anniversary, and he can’t leave the ranch. Plus, I have that job in Vermont before the awards gala.”
“Has it come up in conversation about what you’re going to do? Like, are you going to start dating over FaceTime and not see other people or…?”
I throw my head back in a laugh. “Not exactly. He did slip a surprise in my suitcase that I didn’t know about when we were packing up my things to leave. I don’t know what it means, but he put his favorite book between a few of my sweaters. I read it while I was there. That book means a lot to him, so I can’t for the life of me think about him giving it to me without crying.”
My eyes glass over with liquid at the reminder of the unexpected gift. I’d quickly finished the book shortly after finding it, only to sob in the middle of my hotel room bed for the remainder of the night. Each tear had felt like a threadconnecting me to something bigger. Every line in the brilliant novel had unraveled me and stitched me up all at once.
But it wasn’t her grand gesture or his yearning in the story that twisted my emotions. It wasn’t even the love notes tied to tumbleweeds between the two main characters that did me in.
It was pure reverence—the significance of holding that book in my hands.
The one he loved.
The one hegaveto me.
“Damn,” she sighs. “Well, it sounds like you need to talk with him about it and figure this out before too much time passes. I want to see you happy, is all. I’d be so excited for you if this worked out and he’s as amazing as you’ve told me he is.”
“You’re right. I know, I just— I don’t know, I don’t want to force it. I don’t want toloseit, whatever it may be”
“Yeah, I get that.” She crosses one leg over the other, resting her tilted head on one fist. “Maybe he’ll bring it up and take the initiative.”
That very second, my phone dings from the corner of the coffee table, making its glass top vibrate with the notification. I swipe it up quickly to see a text from Ledger.
Ledger
Good morning.
How’d the shoot go?
A puff of air leaves my nose in a satisfied laugh. My fingers type at lightning speed while I grin down at the screen. Gagging noises come from the chair across from me, and I lift my gaze to shoot Simone a glare.
“I’m kidding.” She giggles. “Your cheeks are pink, and that’s the happiest I’ve seen you all day. It’s cute,” she says, exaggerating the last word.
Hi! It’s afternoon here, and the shoot went really well.
Ledger
Send me some pics
What kind? ;)
Ledger
I meant some of the ones you took at the shoot lol
