Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 540(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 540(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
“Yoo-hoo…” A voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked up to find Morgan standing at my bedroom door. She tilted her head. “Boy, you were really somewhere else. I said your name three times.”
“Did you?”
She nodded with her hands behind her back, then walked in and held out a small gift bag. “A little something to remember our time here.”
I smiled sadly. “I don’t have a parting gift for you.”
She plopped down on the bed next to me and set the bag on my lap. “This isn’t really a gift. It’s more closure.”
Inside was the black teddy I’d worn the night of my video sexcapades with Brock. I’d hand washed it and returned it to her the next day. “Umm... How is this closure? Seeing this is more the opposite of closure.”
Morgan covered my hand with hers. “Not if you put it on and go say goodbye one last time...”
I started to speak, but Morgan put a hand up. “Hear me out before you respond. You’re better at giving advice than I am. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you these last few weeks. But every once in a blue moon, something smart comes out of my mouth. I think what I have to say is important.”
I squeezed her hand. “Everything you say is important, Morgan. You don’t give yourself enough credit.”
She rested her head on my shoulder. “You need to see him one more time, February. Talk to him. Look at what happened with your dad when you tried to shut him out. Relationships that are important to us are like open wounds. If you walk away without closure, they fester and never heal. But if you allow it to close, you can move on. You’ll have a scar, but we can live with those.”
I sighed. “Maybe you’re right.”
Morgan smiled. “Hang on.” She dug into her pocket and took out her cell phone. Holding it up to me, she pressed record. “Say that again. But leave off the maybe part.”
I chuckled and bumped my shoulder with hers. “I’m going to miss you, my zany friend.”
She winked. “No, you’re not. You’re going to see me every day. On Instagram.”
***
I raised my hand to knock, then lowered it.
What if he has company?
What if Nina is in there?
What if…
No. No. No. I’m being ridiculous. Brock would never do that to us.
Though there is no us anymore, is there?
You haven’t even spoken to the man in five days.
And he moved on pretty quickly after things ended with his ex, didn’t he?
My palms started to sweat. This was ridiculous. I was being ridiculous. Yet when I raised my hand to knock again, I still couldn’t do it. Fear crippled me.
Though when I heard a deep voice behind me, I certainly jumped high enough.
“Just gonna stand there all day?”
Brock.
I covered my racing heart and turned around. “You scared the crap out of me.”
“Sorry.”
“I went to the bar to look for you, but they said you took tonight off.”
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “I was working on a cabin.”
“At midnight?”
“I have a personal project I work on whenever I have time. A log home I’m building for myself.”
“Oh. I didn’t know that.”
Brock nodded. We fell quiet as we stared at each other, but the ever-present sexual tension was still there. It crackled in the air all around us.
“You want to see it?” he asked.
I nodded. “I’d love that.”
Back downstairs, Brock opened the passenger door of his truck. Once I climbed in, he took off his flannel and wrapped it around me before going to the driver’s side. “You should really wear a jacket.”
Unfortunately, that was pretty much the extent of our conversation for the fifteen-minute drive. I had no idea what to say, and it seemed Brock didn’t either. The silence was awkward. The roads were dark, and Brock stared straight ahead.
When we turned off the highway and headed down a dirt road toward a wooded area, I attempted to break the ice. “You’re not taking me out into the woods to kill me, are you? I don’t want to die wearing a blue flannel over a red dress.”
Brock shook his head and parked. “Wait here. I have to turn on the generator.”
A minute later, the entire area was illuminated by floodlights. The view took my breath away. Wow. Just wow. Nestled deep in the woods, a wide, welcoming porch stretched across the front of a big log cabin. I could easily envision rocking chairs and some hanging ferns, and maybe a rustic lantern over the tall front door.
Brock opened the passenger door and held out a hand. Somewhere nearby, a brook babbled.
“This is incredible. You built this yourself?”
He nodded. “Every last bit of it. Cut down every log and handmade every cabinet in the half-done kitchen. I’ll probably be ninety by the time it’s finished, but I wanted to do it all myself.”