“It’ll take me three hours to drive back. It would take roughly an hour to get that shit situated, and I could be back here before dinner. Yeah, . . . I’m listening.”
I wanted to blow a fuse. As much as he gave me a hard time about not putting him first, how dare he cut into our vacation to attend to one of those damn thugs he represented? Fury poured through my veins, and I felt the tears coming on.
I knew we agreed to talk things out, but I needed to escape him for the moment. He continued with his conversation, heading back toward the cabin, and I headed to the B&B. I was still angry when I stepped inside the dining hall to fix my plate, but it all seeped out of me when I saw the woman from the bar. She was chatting with some of the customers at one table. I had no idea she worked here. What a coincidence that was.
I headed to the line to fix to-go platters for both Bryson and me. The woman from the bar walked to where we stood and removed the almost empty tray of sausages and replaced it with a new one. Several other people were ahead of me, and they were chatting her up. She turned her gaze to me and smiled.
“Hello. I’ve been meaning to tell you that you and your fiancé make a gorgeous couple. I can tell that he loves you from how he looks at you. A piece of advice to keep it going: Don’t always be so quick to jump to conclusions, but give each other the benefit of the doubt. You’ll be surprised at how many problems can be resolved that way.”
What was she talking about? I scanned my brain but came up empty. “Uhm, I’m sorry, but aren’t you?—”
“Biscuits are calling, and I’ve got to make them. It’s been wonderful talking to everyone. Enjoy your day, folks,” she called over her shoulder before disappearing through a door marked “Restricted, kitchen personnel only.”
I shook my head and left the line. I wasn’t certain what Bryson would want, if anything at all. I needed to confront him about the possibility of his leaving me up here before I could eat. My appetite had diminished no sooner than I had been prepared to fix my plate.
When I returned to our cabin, I was relieved to see that Bryson was no longer on a call. He was pouring himself a glass of juice.
“Hey, you left me.”
“It didn’t seem like you were in a hurry to get something to eat, and I told you that I was hungry,” I mumbled, washing my hands.
Bryson moved behind me and wrapped me in his embrace. Resting his chin on my shoulder, he nipped my ear before he asked, “Are you in your feelings?”
“Damn right, I am.”
“Can we talk about it before you explode?” he asked, reminding me of one of our vows to talk things out.
“Sure.”
He led me back to the couch. “What’s going on? Is this about my call?”
“Yes. It sounds to me like you’re about to hop on the road to save the day for one of your clients, while you leave me behind. Or maybe not. Maybe you were planning on taking me with you, although you never take me with you to handle your business.”
Bryson grabbed my hands and rubbed his over mine. “And you’re right. I never take you with me, and I’m not about to start now. What you’re not right about is me returning. I’m not going anywhere, baby. Yes, they wanted me to, and even offered to triple my rate, but I’m not doing that shit. I vowed to put us first, and that’s what I meant.”
“I heard you discussing how long it would take for you to return and how you could be back here by dinner time.”
“You heard me talking that shit out with his hysterical wife, trying to talk some sense into her head or expecting her to make it make sense to me. I wanted her to consider how she would handle it if she had to leave vacation to take care of something and lost almost an entire day doing that.”
“So, you’re not going?”
“No. I’m not going.”
“Did she understand?” I searched his eyes to see if there was any doubt about his decision, but I didn’t see any.
“I don’t give a shit if she understood or not. The only thing that I care about right now is spending time with my lady and enjoying this beautiful fall day on our vacation. Our relationship is my priority, Kennedi, whether you believe it or not. I didn’t give you hell for me to turn around and do the same bullshit. If this is my second chance at love, I’m gonna treat it like it’s my only one.”
“Can we get breakfast now?”
He laughed and stood, tugging me out of my seat. “Yeah, let’s go feed your big, back ass before you fuck up my relationship over your hungry stomach, woman.”
I laughed, and we talked about the promotion a little as we made our way back to the B&B. We were standing in line, and I was trying to choose between the Belgian waffles and chocolate chip pancakes when the woman from the bar appeared again. I glanced at her and then at Bryson, but he was in a deep conversation with another one of the male guests about something.
“You’re trying to choose which is best. Both are good, but trust your instincts. Always trust your instincts. You have the wisdom inside of you to make the best choices,” she advised and winked at me.
“Delivery man is here,” someone called out from the kitchen. Just like before, the woman disappeared into the kitchen before I could even have a chance to ask her if she was the same woman from the bar.
Although she didn’t act like she knew me or recognized me, she did have a sense of familiarity with me. But it couldn’t be possible that the woman who invited me to the party also worked here, could it? Unless she had a doppelganger, I was certain it was the same woman.
