He grunted and sat down beside me. “You make it sound like you don’t want to be here.”
I sighed and looked up at him. “Robert, this isn’t about you. I have a job, and whatever you did to make sure I could come up here for the week, it’s not helping me make sure that things are running smoothly.”
“I handled a lawsuit for him.”
“A what?”
“Destin Properties. They wanted to sue him. They were trying to say that he inflated the price after the work was completed, but they didn’t disclose all the issues the building had. I worked it out for him,” he shrugged.
“Well, I’m sure he’s very grateful, but that doesn’t mean that you can make trades with my job.”
“It was one time,” he insisted. “Is it really so terrible that I wanted you here for the week?”
I smiled slightly at him, shaking my head. “No, it’s not terrible, but this isn’t a long term solution.”
“You’re right. It’s not.”
He shoved up from his seat and pressed a kiss to my mouth. “I’ll be waiting for you in bed when you’re done.”
“Okay.”
I got back to work, but I kept thinking about our situation. How were we going to make this work between us? I couldn’t keep coming up here, which meant that I would either have to come up on the weekends, or he would have to come down to me. And since I was just about to move into a new house, I didn’t really want to spend all my time in the city. I couldn’t see a way to make this work, but I also wasn’t ready to give up on what we had.
Robert
“You’re sure you want to leave now?” I asked, watching her pack from the doorway of my bedroom. I hated that she was leaving today. I wanted her to stay tonight with me and then tomorrow go move her out of her trailer.
“I need to get some stuff done.”
“What stuff?” I asked, shoving off the door frame and walking over to her. “Is there someone you need to see?”
She looked up from her packing and frowned. “What does that mean?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. You just seem to be rushing out of here when you could be spending time with me.”
“Robert, the only person I plan on seeing is the clerk at the grocery store. I need to get groceries for the week. And in case you’ve already forgotten, I need to finish packing so I can move.”
“But you could do that tomorrow.”
“And I need to do laundry.”
“You could do it here.”
She tossed a shirt she was folding down into her bag and turned to me with a scowl. “I’ve been here for a week. I could have been slowly moving into my new house. A house that you got for me. Do you really expect me to stay here when I could be moving? Besides, is it too much to ask that I have just a little time to myself?”
“Why would you need time to yourself?”
“Robert, I love spending time with you, but I still have things to do. I have a life of my own an hour from here. I like to go to Mary Anne’s bakery and get her coffee and donuts. I like to see people from town and say hello.”
“What people?” I asked irritatedly. “Does this have to do with Corduroy?”
“Seriously?” she asked, her eyes bugging out.
“Okay, it doesn’t have to do with Corduroy,” I muttered, feeling like I had just stepped in a huge pile of dog shit.
“Why would you think I want to go see Carter?”
“You showed up with him to Thanksgiving,” I argued, even though there was no point in arguing. She already gave her answer.
“Carter invited himself along. I didn’t invite him, and I wouldn’t have even been there if you hadn’t had some weird rivalry with your brother. Which I still haven’t forgotten about, by the way.”
“Why did you let him kiss you that night?”
She sighed and turned back to her folding. “I can’t believe you’re jealous of him. Yes, he kissed me, but I didn’t know he was going to do it, and then he outed us to your family. Why would you even think that I want him?”
It didn’t make sense. I knew that. But she would be in town with him during the week, where he could see her and talk to her, while I was in the city, an hour away. I couldn’t just drop by to see her or even