“I’m parked at your house. You didn’t get my text?”

I took my phone out of my pocket and realized I had missed a text from her. It must have come in during the volleyball game. “No, but I see it now.”

Trying not to get overly excited, I reminded myself that she could very well have come here just to deliver the bad news in person. Despite my wanting to reach out and touch her, my body stiffened instead as a self-protective mechanism.

“Can we walk to your house? I don’t want to have this talk here.” She wasn’t smiling. Her expression was only confirming my worst fears.

A feeling of dread developed at the pit of my stomach. “Sure.”

The short walk to my place was quiet. When we arrived, Aubrey’s car was parked out front. We sat outside on the front steps to the loft. Mutton chewed on the grass next to us. She rubbed her palms together nervously.

“Go on, Aubrey. Just get it over with.”

She looked like she was about to cry, and her question caught me off guard. “Are you seeing someone?”

My tone was abrupt. “Am I seeing someone?”

“Just answer me.”

“No, Aubrey. I’ve done nothing but eat, sleep and breathe you for weeks.” My tone bordered on angry. “Why would you ask me that?”

“The other night, I returned to my house to get some things I forgot during the move. Philomena saw my car and came out to tell me that you had been there earlier in the day. So, I went to your motel that night. There was a car parked outside. When I peeked in the window, a girl was with you, and she was putting a shirt over her head. I think it was that bartender.”

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Are you kidding me?

Fuck.

“Princess, listen to me.” I placed my hand under her chin, directing her to look at me. “I promise you, I will never lie to you. Do you believe me?”

“Just tell me the truth.”

“That was Carla. She’s a friend. You’re right. She’s the bartender at the bar I frequented. She followed me back to my room because I drank too much that night. She took off her clothes and came on to me, but I stopped it. Nothing happened.”

“Really?”

“I swear on my Mum’s grave. Carla kissed me and started to undress me, but I told her I couldn’t do anything, nor did I want to.”

She let out a huge breath. “Oh my God. I’ve been losing sleep. I know I don’t even have a right to be upset after the way I’ve treated you.”

“My judgment was off that night. I was devastated after I found out you decided to go to Boston. It felt like my life was over.”

“Boston? I never decided to go to Boston.”

“What? But all of your stuff was gone.”

“Yes. I moved out…but not to go to Boston.”

“Philomena talked to Dick while you were packing. He told her you’d made up your mind to go with him.”

“No. That’s not true.”

“Fuck, Princess. That’s why I got so sloshed that night. I thought I’d lost you.”

“Richard was hopeful. Maybe that’s why he told Philomena I was moving with him. He kept thinking he could convince me, dangling the promise of a job and all. I hadn’t told him about you until the next day. I wanted to pack my stuff before things got ugly.”

“Wait. Are you telling me…”

“I never intended to go to Boston, Chance. My mind was basically made up a long time before that, but I was still scared to give in to you completely. The fear is always going to be there. I will always be afraid to lose you because of how much I love you. Spending that one day with you here, though, it felt so right. I’d never been more certain of anything in my life. I knew I had to go back and tie up my loose ends. I knew I had to end it with him.”

“You broke up with Dick?”

“Yes. It was a mess. I told him everything. He accused me of fucking you and your twin brother, Harry the landscaper.”

We both burst out into laughter, startling the goat who miraculously stayed conscious for once.

“If only I were two people and could double team you. Did you tell him I don’t really have a twin?”

“No. Once he accused me of being a slut, I didn’t care to clarify.”

“Dumbass.”

“He really was a good guy, but from the moment you came back, Chance, you need to know there was never really any contest.”

I let out a huge sigh of relief as my mind started to piece together what was happening. “You quit your job…not to go to Boston but to…”