Maps to get to a Walgreens.”
“Melly honey-do-listed you?” she asks, teasing.
“Yeah.”
For a moment, all I can hear is the wind whipping through my phone. I pull my hand away, peeking at the screen to make sure I haven’t lost her call.
Finally, she says, “James. I’m sorry I left.”
“It’s okay,” I tell her. And it is. As much as I’d like to do it again, one and done is more straightforward.
“Melly came in.”
It takes me a beat to register her meaning. “Came in … to my room? This morning?”
“She had a key. I guess she thought it was Rusty’s room.”
I think back to check-in. Rusty’s name was on one room, mine was on the other, but I didn’t think it mattered who ended up where; I handed him one and took the second. But it did matter, because of course Melissa asked Joe for a copy of what was supposed to be Rusty’s key.
I groan. “That was my fault.”
Carey laughs. “Yeah, I’m gloating a little that you weren’t the perfect assistant for once.”
So she didn’t just bolt. I’m surprised by the power of my relief. I’d so quickly convinced myself that it was fine, that I didn’t need to pursue this, and then one word from her about it not being what I thought—she didn’t panic and flee—and I’m practically melting into the sidewalk. Maybe we can figure it out after all.
“Was she mad?” I ask, wincing.
Carey barks out an incredulous laugh. “What do you think?”
“I think she flipped out. Where are you right now?”
“I’m back in my room. Once I convinced her that I wasn’t lying there naked in Rusty’s bed—oh my God, what a horrible sentence—she calmed down. The fact that he wasn’t still in bed snoring next to me and that there was a tidy row of your work clothes in the closet helped. I should say she calmed down a little.”
I think she’s going to tell me what Melissa said once she knew Carey had been with me, not Rusty, but the line goes silent again.
Finally, I have to ask. “What did she think about … us?”
I hear her shift somehow and can imagine her sitting on her left hand, trying to get it to relax. “She wasn’t crazy about it.”
“I’m sure she wasn’t.” I hate having this conversation like this, through the phone, where I’m standing in the middle of a windy sidewalk and she’s alone in her hotel room, recovering after another tirade from Melissa. I want to be sitting next to her, talking. Even if we didn’t touch, I could read her face.
But maybe I don’t need more cues. Right now the silence feels pretty definitive.
Her words barely make it through the line: “I had a really nice time, though, James. I mean it. It was the best sex I’ve ever had. God, that sounds stupid.”
“It doesn’t sound stupid. I was thinking the same thing this morning.”
She doesn’t say anything else.
“So,” I say quietly, getting it. “That’s it?”
“I think so.”
One perfect night, and with a nearly silent exhale, we’re done.
She clears her throat. “But, it’s just the reality. Things are nuts right now, and—”
“You don’t have to explain it to me, Carey.” I turn and lean into the side of a building. “You know I understand the situation.”
“I know you do.”
The ease with which we’ve both let this go ignites something in me, just a spark, but it’s big enough to trip the rest of the realization. Carey is so good at taking care of everyone else, but she is beyond shitty at taking care of herself. I know there’s a stronger backbone in there—she showed it to me yesterday. I’m not willing to let her bury it just to avoid conflict.
“Actually, wait.” I turn against the wind. “No, I don’t.”
I can practically hear the way this takes her aback. “What?”
“I don’t understand. We don’t have to pursue this between us if it doesn’t feel right to you, but Melissa’s opinion, stress levels, or demands shouldn’t have anything to do with it.”
“James.” She says this single syllable as if she’s exhausted—which I’m sure she is. But the fire has been lit, and I think it needs to be lit in her, too.
“I know that she pays you well,” I say. “I know that you’re critical for the designs and worry you won’t be able to replicate that somewhere else. I know that you have a long history with them, and I even know that health insurance is a really important consideration for you. But