And for the first time since all this started - I believe it.
Chapter Twelve
Dalton
It’s a shitty day, cold with rain, almost freezing, coming down in sheets atop the garage. Hard to believe it’s almost April, but sometimes our worst weather is in March. No one speaks over the noise, preferring to not wreck their voice, not even the radio we have playing in the background can be heard.
“It gets much colder out there and we’ll be fucked.”
It’s shameful to admit, but I can’t tell if it’s Tyler or Caelin speaking to me. They both sound the exact same now that Caelin’s balls have dropped. Shit, I mean gotten a little older. Sneaking a peak in between the spot my arm makes, I see it’s the younger of the two.
“True.” I turn so we face one another. “What are you doing here today? I thought you were at the clubhouse?”
“I was told to bring you this phone.”
My gaze moves down to the iPhone he holds in his hand. I eye it like it’s a snake. “The fuck you bringing me a phone for?”
He shrugs. “Just do as I’m told. You should be getting a call in the next halfhour.”
Reaching over, he puts it in the breast pocket of my coveralls. Flashing me a peace sign before he struts out of the bay area toward the office. Last I heard Roni was having issues with some of her accounting software.
“Wait, who the fuck told you to bring this to me?”
“Liam, but good luck finding him; he took the kids out for pizza.”
The kids would be my son, Drew’s three, and Roni’s one. I don’t know how in the world he manages to keep them all in line when he has them together, but it’s fuckin’ magical to watch.
“Oh,” he yells back right before he goes into the office, holding the door open with one hand. “You might wanna take that call in private. Maybe go sit in the company truck and wait for it to come in?”
The company truck? Fuck my life, it’s halfway across the parking lot and none of it is covered. The decision to make a run for it is more about being nosey than anything else. I have no idea who or what this could be, and if it came from Liam, there’s no telling.
Hitching my hood over my head, I zip up tightly against the moisture of the water and the chill of the air, running as fast as I can to where the work truck sits. Hopping in, I take a few moments to regulate my breathing before reaching up and pulling down the visor. The keys fall out into my lap, and I work quickly to get the heater going.
Taking off my hood and unzipping slightly, I put my hands out, welcoming the warm air. It’s then I feel a vibration in my pocket. My fingers are cold and they fumble to get the phone out, but I manage, seeing a number I don’t recognize.
“Yeah?”
It’s just the way I answer when I don’t know who I’m going to be speaking with.
“Dalton?”
The voice on the other end causes my heart to speed up and a smile to spread across my face. A flush of nerves works its way to the surface, but somehow I still manage to speak without sounds like a bumbling fool. “Babe?”
“Yeah.” I can hear the smile in her voice. “It’s me, how are you?”
“God, Mandy.” I fight against the tears that threaten to fall. A few actually do, and the way I sniffle is enough motivation for her to let some go too. Now’s the time to stop being good at hiding my emotions from her, and fuck, she’s the love of my life, one of the best friends I’ve ever had, and I’ve had to live without her for far too long. “I miss the hell outta you.”
“I miss you too,” she cries. “Thank you for taking the call. It was rough trying to get everything together, and I wasn’t sure if I’d get my telephone privileges today. It’s why I didn’t tell you,” she rushes forward. “In case something happened and I’d have to disappoint you again.”
“You don’t disappoint me.”
“I do, sometimes. Now’s the time to be honest, D.”
“I honestly love you,” I whisper to her.
Locked in the truck with the fog starting to rise from the ground around me, it’s easy for me to pretend like we’re in the early stages of our relationship again, trying to hide it from everyone. All those conversations we used to have with whispered voices and hidden feelings come flooding back, the same excited beating of my heart. The same flutter in my stomach as I hear the tone she reserves for me, and only for me.
“I love you too, Dalton, and I’m so sorry about how we left things the last time we saw each other.”
Thinking about the night in the field still hurts, but I’m man enough to look past it, if she’s willing to put in the work on herself. “We were both lost.” I play with one of the zippers on the pocket of my coveralls. “We were looking for two different things and neither one of us realized it. I was hurt at the time, I’m not gonna lie to you, but I’d much rather be upset about something than not have you in my life.” My voice catches, and I do my best to push past it. “When I heard you almost…” I trail off, not yet able to say the word. “My world stopped, Mandy. You and Walker mean so much to me, I’m so sorry you felt the way you did.”
“I’m learning a lot, and one of the things I’m learning is I have a habit of abandoning people before they can do the same to me. I’m sorry for that, I’ve abandoned you more than once.”
What else is there for me to do? Even though
