Chapter 18
Rowan entered her apartment and shut the door, leaning against it. She was tired. Tossing her keys into the bowl on the table beside the door, she dropped the bags at her feet.
“Honey…I’m home.” It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. She stared blankly ahead and tried to gather the energy to move away from the door. Dragging herself from the car had burned the last of her reserves. Her stomach grumbled, but the thought of fixing something to eat was exhausting. She didn’t want to eat. She didn’t want to talk to anyone, even though she needed to call her parents.
Going to the cabin had been a mistake. Not that Luke wouldn’t have found her at her apartment but at least then she could have kicked him out or called the police—anything other than be stuck somewhere with him, overwhelmed by all the memories.
Seeing him again had brought back the stark reality that she missed him. It was almost as if she had regressed to that girl she’d been when they first broke up. She rubbed her forehead with the heal of a hand and grabbed the house phone on her way to the recliner. Curling up in a ball and resting her head on the arm of the chair, she dialed the number of her childhood.
Voice mail picked up. “You have reached the Mitchell residence. We have no comment. Friends and family, please call our cell phones.”
“What the hell?” She ended the call and dialed her dad’s cell phone.
“Rowan,” he said as soon as he answered. “Thank god. Where are you?”
“I’m at home. What’s going on? Why do you have that message on the house phone?”
“It’s been ringing off the hook with reporters wanting an exclusive.”
She covered her eyes with a hand. “I’m so, so sorry, Dad—I didn’t mean to dump all this on you.”
“I know, honey. Claudia explained that you went to her parents’ cabin.”
“Still, it wasn’t fair to you or Mom or Michael’s family to stick you with dealing with the fallout.”
“Rowan, it’s okay. I will say you missed a really good party. It was probably a good thing you guys paid for the open bar.”
She huffed out a laugh his pragmatic view of the situation. “At least someone had a good time.”
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I will be…eventually.”
“Did you and Luke elope?”
“What?!” Her head jerked up. “No! Why would you ask that?”
“That’s the rumor going around on the internet. You haven’t seen it?”
She lowered her head to the armrest. “No. I’m avoiding my cellphone.”
“Probably a good idea.”
Except now she was curious what was being said.
“What are you going to do?” he asked.
Rowan shook her head. “I don’t know. Probably just go into work and pretend the last two days hadn’t happened.” Had it really only been two days? It felt like years had passed.
“Why don’t you come back home for a few days?” he asked. “You’re off anyway and this time it won’t be because of an emergency. You can actually visit for a few days.”
“I’ll think about it.” That was almost the last thing she wanted to do. She loved her family, but Flat Holler, Tennessee was still the small, closed-minded town it had been when she grew up there. The last time she’d been home for an extended visit, one of her uncles had asked if she was dealing drugs since it was legal in Colorado.
“All right. Let me know what you decide so I can pick you up from the airport.”
“If I decide to visit, I’ll get a rental car and drive myself,” she said. “How’s Mom?”
“She’s good. She went to Johnson City to visit Aunt Susan.”
