“Really?” I ask, surprised.
“Are you kidding me? He was frantic about it. I honestly thought at one point he was going to drop out of school to search the world for you.”
Guilt takes me over, and I drop my head, blinking away the tears I don’t want to fall.
“So what happened?” she continues, I’m sure feeling guilty for bringing my disappearance up at all. “How did he find you?”
“That’s the funny thing. We found each other.”
“What? How?”
“God. I told you it’s unbelievable.” I look over at her, and she raises her eyebrows, egging me on. “We ran into each other at an anonymous sex club.”
“Shut up!” she yells. “Okay, I’m going to hear a lot more about this club, but first, how in the world?”
I cover my eyes. “Don’t judge. I’ve had a long ten years, and the last thing I wanted was a relationship. So when I got the opportunity to join the club I jumped on it.”
“Ha, literally,” she interrupts, and I laugh out loud.
“So, what, you recognized him? What’s the anonymous part?”
“You wear masks, and I guess he knew it was me right away, but he did everything in his power to make sure I didn’t know it was him.”
“Okay, seriously, how did you not know?”
“Have you seen pictures of him?”
She nods, thinking about it. “Yeah, I guess he has changed a lot.”
“A lot? That’s the understatement of the year.”
“Well, yeah, I guess from high school he’s changed a ton. I’ve seen him every so often, so I haven’t thought about just how much, but yeah, thinking back to high school he was a little scrawny back then.”
“He comes home a lot?”
“Yeah, I guess every few months. Whenever he can. He’s supporting his parents. You know that, right?”
“No!” I admit.
“Yup. His mom had a stroke a few years back. She’s doing okay now, but she hasn’t worked since. He sends them money and even moved them into a different house so she can move around easier.”
Of course he did. He’s always been such an amazing guy and hearing this doesn’t surprise me at all.
I’m silent as I let the thought of him sink in.
Kaitlyn breaks through my thoughts. “So continue, sex club you were saying? I need to make it out to see you. San Francisco sounds like my kind of place.” She winks, and I laugh.
She’d die to see such a large city with so many people around. I don’t think she’s left Warroad much, and the shock might be too much for her to take in.
“So yeah. I figured out who he was but not until I’d already fallen for his friend.”
“What?” She jumps in her seat, holding on to the steering wheel in shock before looking at me.
“It’s a mess, Kaitlyn. But the worst part is I still haven’t spoken to him.”
“Which one?”
I look at her in disbelief. “Carter!”
