Page 60 of Dirty Discipline, Vol. 2

"Is he a psychologist?"

"No."

"Goddammit, Traci. Enough with forcing me into the game of twenty questions. How did you meet Sean? What's he like? How did you leave things? Is it serious?"

"Stop! This is exactly why I didn't want to talk to you since I've been home. I knew you'd grill me and I'm honestly not ready to talk about this yet, okay?"

Troy's eyes filled with sympathy and that was the final straw. She could take his bossy, demanding questions. What she couldn't take was his pity. She felt the first prickle of tears.

"Ah, Trace. I'm so sorry. Things didn't work out?"

"No, Troy. Things didn't work out. How could they? Weren't you listening? We live a thousand fucking miles apart from each other!" Traci was on the edge. She'd been forced to hold things together, hoping for a miracle when talking with Sean, but each night it became clearer where they were headed.

Troy stood to hug her, but she pushed off her own stool to move to the kitchen sink. She busily washed the only two dirty cups for something to do to distract herself. He came behind her to hug her back against his chest and wrapped her in his strong arms.

She hated to admit it, but she needed this hug from her brother. It calmed her. Troy played her perfectly. He silently held and rocked her gently until she felt brave enough to talk about it with him.

"He's the General Manager of the hotel that hosted the conference. I met him the second day I was there. He asked me out and since I was trying to avoid going to dinner with my colleagues, I said yes. It seemed like a good idea at the time. We went out to eat on Navy Pier. He bought me cotton candy and we rode the huge Ferris wheel. It was a fun night, and I should have just let it die there, but he asked me out for the next night, too."

Traci glanced over her shoulder to see Troy hanging on every word, so she barged ahead.

"I agreed to have dinner together again. He invited me to his suite, and I got to meet his fifteen-year-old daughter, Ashley. She's an amazing young woman. We had so much fun that night playing Chinese checkers and laughing. I've never felt so at home with someone so quickly. We really clicked, you know?"

"That's great, Traci. I don't see what the problem is here. Did he do something to hurt you?"

Traci's snorting laughter preceded the manic tears. She wanted to pull away from her brother, but he held her close while she finally let her last guard down. At some point Troy turned to hug her to him, offering up his shoulder to cry on... literally. Only after her tears slowed to a trickle did he reach for a nearby tissue, swiping at the tears on her cheeks. "Feel better?"

"No."

"I'm going to get on the next plane and kick his ass if he hurt you, Trace."

"No need, Troy. He didn't hurt me and he never will. I should know. He tried."

"You'd better start explaining and quick."

"He's vanilla, Troy. I give him credit. He didn't make fun of me. Hell, he even tried, but... damn, this is too weird to talk to my brother about."

Troy had been watching her carefully. He was a wise man. He thankfully put it together without her having to verbalize one of the more embarrassing events of her life. "He tried?"

"Twice. The first time wasn't a total disaster."

"That's good, isn't it?"

"The last night I was there was an epic failure on the scale of the Hindenburg... maybe the Titanic. I give him credit. He tried, but it just isn't going to work out, okay?"

"Did he tell you that? Have you talked to him?"

"Sure, we talk. We text. Each day it's less and less. More strained. When I was there...

before that last night... we talked so easily. Non-stop. Now, it's awkward. I know he’s just trying not to hurt my feelings."

"Maybe you should get on a plane and go back to talk it out with him."

"And then what? I'm positive he isn't going to move to Eagle’s Pass so even if I would... compromise. Give up on having the kind of relationship I've always wanted, I'd still have to move to Chicago. I love it here. You and Hallie are my only family. This is where I belong and we both know it."

"I'm so sorry, Trace. What can I do?"

"Nothing. I just need to work through this. I only knew the guy for a week. I mean, surely I'll get over him soon. I just want to feel sorry for myself and bury myself in ice cream and romance novels this weekend. I'll be better by next week. I promise."

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