I thank her father and make for the exit. Within a minute, I’m on my motorcycle and peeling away in the direction of the fishing hole.
Jesus. I almost kissed her.
I pull up to the fishing hole and sit by the water.
And my phone rings.
I would let it go to voicemail, but it’s Luke.
“Hey,” I say, trying to sound normal. “Everything okay?”
“Don’t you think I should be asking you that question?” he says.
I can hear commotion in the background. “Where are you?”
“In my office in the barn.” He curses. “The place is a mess.”
“You need help,” I tell him. “You’ve needed it for a while.”
“I know. But I hate inviting a stranger into the family business.”
“An assistant would be there to assist, not screw things up,” I say. “Maybe then you could actually have an hour to yourself now and again.”
“Maybe. So.” He lowers his voice. “You sound off. Did Macey find out?”
“No. I almost screwed everything up though.”
“You kissed her.”
“Not quite.”
“You almost kissed her.”
“I used to be okay with the way things were,” I say without planning on it.
“What do you mean?”
“Our…arrangement. It worked for us. Casual and only once a year or so.”
“And now?”
“Now, it feels like a lifetime ago. Ever since Vegas, things felt like they sped up a thousand-fold.”
“Things changed,” he says. “That makes sense.”
Now every single time I see Macey, I want to kiss her and make her mine again. Bring her up against a wall, or a desk, and run my tongue over her soft skin that always smells like wildflowers. Bury myself inside her and hear her cry out in bliss.
Every. Single. Time.
“I guess it does. But the timing is shit. With what I’m in the middle of…”
“Just a few more months, and you’ll be able to give her everything,” Luke says to me. “You’re doing the right thing, Logan. It may not be the conventional solution, but it’s the cowboy one. Which means it’ll work.”
I look out at the water. Just a few more months of this misery. Gigi and I will exchange vows, she’ll turn twenty, and then we’re done.
Then I can go to Macey and tell her how I feel. That I’ll take her any way she’ll have me. I always would. And I always will.
“Remember why you’re doing this.” Luke’s reminder comes through the line loud and clear. “For Macey.”
