Her face was strained. “I don’t thinkwego anywhere.”
I knew that made sense, yet the old feelings for her came flooding back. I didn’t want to hear it. “This is it?” I finally said. “We’re just gonna pretend we don’t exist to each other? That doesn’t work for me.”
“Pretending you don’t exist isn’t an option,” she murmured.
I let out a long breath. “I don’t have all the answers tonight. I’m still absorbing this, grappling with the fact that I may have inadvertently sabotaged my relationship with my son by sleeping with one of his best friends.” I paused. “But also…seeing you again is a fucking dream come true.” I shook my head, nearly overcome with emotion.
Blair blushed and looked away. “Where does your date think you are right now? Is she your girlfriend?”
“Helping my parents with something in their suite.” I swallowed. Leah hadn’t entered my mind once since I’d come to this hotel room. “She and I only started dating a couple of months ago. She’s a good person.”
“Well, that’sgreat,” Blair said almost bitterly. “I’m happy for you.”
I stared at her a moment. Something else was going on here. Blair was…different.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked.
“Is everything okay with you? I mean, outside of this situation?”
“I’m fine,” she insisted, her blush deepening.
“Where are you living now?” I asked.
“North of Boston. About an hour from here. My parents moved from Western Mass to the Boston area when my father switched jobs, so I followed. I don’t live with them, though. The move meant I also now live closer to Taylor.” She paused. “He mentioned that his father had moved here, too. You left Texas?”
I nodded. “It was time, yeah. I wanted to be closer to him and the rest of my family. I’ve been garnering a lot of business here, too.”
“You’re still doing the home building?” she asked.
“Yeah. But less manual labor up here and more management. It’s like starting over in a way, but it was the right decision.”
My phone chimed with a text. Leah was wondering why I was taking so long.
Blair looked at my phone. “You need to get back?”
Nodding, I exhaled.
“What does she think you’re doing for your parents?”
“I told her my mother needed help with something broken in her room. I didn’t want to lie, but…”
“I get it. We have no choice but to lie right now.”
I took a deep breath and stepped toward the door, but I wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice. “Can I have your number?” I asked, turning back. “I think we need to continue this conversation—maybe when Taylor and Juliana are out of town, so there’s no chance of them seeing us together.”
To my relief, she nodded and didn’t try to convince me that talking was a bad idea. I handed her my phone, and she entered her contact info. I watched as she typed in her last name: Moynihan. Even though Taylor had utteredit once earlier, there was something particularly profound about her finally giving it to me.
I looked down at her name when she returned my phone. “Thank you.”
I sent her a text so she’d have my number.
Blair rubbed her arms as her phone chimed. “You’d better go.”
No part of me wanted to go back out into the world. I couldn’t fathom how I was supposed to just go on with my life after this. But in the end, I forced myself to leave. “Talk to you soon, Blair.”
As she nodded, I quietly slipped out her door, making sure to look both ways before walking down the hall. It felt like I was outside of myself as I entered the elevator.
When I returned to my room, Leah was understandably annoyed.
