I skimmed through the part he told me about.Masyn: You lied to me, Beau. I'm not sure who I'm more mad at right now. You, Lee, or myself.Beau: What'd I lie about?Masyn: You told me he'd be careful with my heart. Beau: You really need to call him.Masyn: You're kidding, right? He's in New York. After he promised me he wasn't going.Beau: As I recall, you told him he should go.I reached out and slapped my friend on the chest. "You couldn't just tell her I wasn't in New York?""Keep reading."Beau: Have you listened to your messages?Masyn: I deleted them. I wasn't interested in his excuses.Beau: Masyn, you're going to regret this.Masyn: And for the record, I didn't TELL him to go. In fact, one of the last things he said to me before we left the house Friday was that he'd be home after I got off work. Masyn: Guess who wasn't there?Masyn: Guess what moron sat on his porch for an hour?Beau: Why didn't you just use the spare key?Masyn: Lee wasn't th
Each time the electronic doors clicked and swooshed with the arrival of anyone entering the waiting area, Beau and I stopped whatever we were doing-talking, resting, playing on our phones-to look up. I couldn't speak for him, but I kept hoping someone would come out to tell me there'd been some sort of change in my dad's condition. When Masyn came through the double doors twenty minutes later, looking worse than when she went in, my heart hammered in my chest and I feared the worst.I stood and met her in the middle of the waiting room. Her thin arms circled my waist, and she pressed her cheek against my chest. There she released the emotion of the last two days, soaking my shirt. I stroked her hair and cradled her tightly, waiting for a sign that she could hold herself up. The doors opened and closed twice more before she pushed back and patted me on the chest as though I'd been the one who needed comforting. "You want to sit down?" I tried to lean over to whisper in her ear, whi
I sent Beau a text to tell him Masyn and I were on our way. The read message receipt indicated he'd seen it, even though he didn't respond. And when we got there, every light in the house was on to welcome us home. "Holy crap, this is Beau's house?" Masyn was either in awe or repulsed by the extravagant display of wealth, I couldn't tell which."Yeah. Just wait until we get inside.""Why would he have bought a house this big?"I threw the truck in park and grabbed Masyn's bag from the back seat. "I think Felicity had a lot to do with it."I'd gone in through the garage last night, so walking up to the front door was a little intimidating. I wasn't a small guy, and I felt tiny standing on the porch. The columns went to the second story, and there weren't just a set of double doors, the place had huge windowpanes down both sides that made it appear twice as large. Masyn held my hand and reached out to press the doorbell with the other. We couldn't have been more than an hou
After I showed Masyn where our room was and got her towels so she could shower, I traversed the mile across the house to Beau's bedroom. The lights were on, so he was either still up and ignoring me, or passed out and unable to hear me. When I knocked and he didn't answer, I ventured in to the second set of doors and tried again."Yeah?" So, he was up."Can I come in?""Depends. You going to keep kicking me while I'm down? Beating me like a dead horse?" he pouted.That was the closest thing I'd get to an invitation, so I took it. "You know that's not my goal.""Then what is? I'm not going to cry if that's what you're hoping for." The sounds of my chuckling weren't what he wanted to hear, either, so I stopped. "All bullshit aside, it's like you flipped a switch this afternoon. I'm just trying to understand where you're coming from.""She drove three hours not knowing what she'd find or if she'd even be able to get to you.""Masyn?" My voice rose with surprise when I sai
The lights were off when I got to our room. I had to count the doors to make sure I was in the right place. If Masyn were asleep, turning the light on would likely wake her up. I softly closed the door behind me and waited for my eyes to adjust to the dark. Once I could see my hand in front of my face, I toed off my shoes and got undressed. Masyn had found the remote for the ceiling fan and turned the place into an icebox. As quietly as I could, I eased under the blankets. My head hit the pillow, and Masyn popped up like a weasel. "Jesus, you scared the hell out of me. Why didn't you tell me you were awake when I came in?""I was half-asleep until I felt the bed shift. Is everything okay with Beau?"I snaked my arm under her head and pulled her into my side, finding her completely naked. "No. But it will be.""Felicity really messed him up."I kissed the top of her head before responding. "I don't think it's just her. I think Beau's spent so much of his life trying to be
By the time we crawled out of bed the next morning, the house was quiet and we were alone. Beau had left a note on the counter that he'd gone to work and would call later. I wasn't sure if anything I'd said sunk in or made sense, however, I was glad to know he'd heeded my advice not to just bail but, at the very least, to figure out a plan. Even with GPS, I had to turn around twice while navigating the streets of Atlanta to get to the hospital. The same roads we'd traveled last night were quite different when they were bogged down with traffic and people driving like maniacs. Normally, it would have gotten under my skin, and I'd be hollering out the window at the morons causing problems, yet today, with Masyn next to me, it didn't seem all that important. It gave me a little extra time alone with her before I had to face whatever happened in the CICU. She took my hand when I clicked the button to set the alarm on the truck, as if we'd been doing this since the dawn of time. I had
My dad moved down two floors, and we followed, even though he'd gone to sleep by the time they allowed us back in his room. At least now we didn't have to sit in a waiting room and stare at the walls...and there was no more Nurse Ratched to deal with, although I was certain every floor had their own version of her. This room was a little larger than the one in ICU and had a loveseat to sit on and a television to watch. Masyn flipped through the channels and settled on some talk show I wasn't interested in. It held her attention, which I was grateful for since I'd gotten lost in my thoughts and my father's warning. Sitting in the corner of the two-seater couch, I'd angled my body toward the TV slightly, and Masyn had situated herself with her back against my side. She played absentmindedly with the fingers on my left hand, and all I could think about was the weight of a ring on the fourth one she held. My future always included Masyn. I never knew if it would be as my wife, since
I had to put his address into the GPS on my phone. His house was easy to get to from Harden, but I didn't have a clue where I was in relation to it from the hospital. I sighed when I saw that an eight-mile drive was estimated to take over an hour with the current traffic. By the time I got back, he'd have Masyn taking a vow of celibacy and entering a convent to maintain her purity to keep her from allowing me to ruin her good name. There was probably nothing in the damn box. Knowing my old man, it wouldn't surprise me if he'd sent me on a wild-goose chase to give him time for a fatherly talk with a girl who wasn't his daughter. I thought about texting her to warn her, but Masyn loved my dad, and she'd blow me off anyhow, so I didn't bother. At the very least, my dad would tell her he'd sent me to run an errand and reassure her I'd be back. My phone started ringing when the GPS gave me my next turn, making it impossible to hear, and I nearly missed the ramp to get onto the interst