Arkansas. Whatever it was, it resulted in her child and her moving back to Tulsa.
“What I can piece together was that her child was conceived, but she wasn’t seeing anyone at the time, and as soon as she found out she was pregnant, she left and never had contact with anyone else in Arkansas again.”
“What aren’t you telling me?”
He clears his throat. “Some people suspected rape, but I haven’t seen or heard of anything formally stating that.”
“So nothing was ever filed?”
“No, Landry, it wasn’t.”
“But?” I ask, feeling that but in his voice.
He pauses for a long moment, I don’t know what he’s going to say, what he’s going to suggest, but what he ends up telling me is interesting, to say the least.
“She partied a little in Arkansas, but after she moved back to her mother’s, she never so much as went out to a bar. She went to classes and then home. She took care of her son and studied. That was her life, that boy.”
“What are you trying to tell me?”
“She seems like a sweet girl. Take that for what it’s worth. She seems like a good girl and if it were me? I would not play with her as a rebound thing.”
I laugh dryly, finding zero humor in his words and showing it. “Do you really think that any relationship I get into would be a rebound? You know my history with my estranged wife. I have dealt with my shit when it comes to her, to us, and I am fully capable of making a sound decision about myself and anyone else I involve.”
There is a moment of silence. It lasts for so long that I assume he’s ended the call, but then he finally speaks.
“I’ve seen her pictures. She’s beautiful. I understand the allure. After spending so much time getting to know her the way that I have, just don’t hurt her. I won’t say anything else.”
He ends the call and I’m grateful, not only for him, but for our relationship too, because I was about to say some shit that I couldn’t rectify with a simple apology.
Turning around, I shove my phone in my pocket as I make my way back to work, the new knowledge about Tennessee spinning in my head. Lifting my hand, I run my palm down my beard, smoothing it down as I think.
Do I believe the theory? I’m not sure that I do, but at the same time, it would make sense. Her abrupt departure from college, the way she has devoted herself to her son, how mature and focused she is on work.
I remember Lucinda a few years ago, and even now, she’s not mature, not by a long shot. I could be wrong, he could be wrong. But what if it’s true? Does that change my attraction to her? Definitely not. But it could change a lot about us, about the way that our relationship could or could not go.
I have a lot of thinking to do. A lot.
TENNESSEE
Friday.
Landry never came back from his lunch with Lawrence yesterday, but he made sure to check in with a text message. It was a bit abrupt, but that’s honestly fine. It’s good. I need to see him as my boss and nothing more.
The kiss was just that, a kiss—comforting that went a simple step too far. Nothing will become of it, nothing can. He’s married and I’m… not available.
Guilt swims in my belly at the thought of kissing a married man. What kind of person does that? What kind of person leans in when she knows the man is married? What kind of horrible fucking person does that?
“Tennessee,” a deep voice rumbles.
My entire body jerks and I turn my head as I tilt it back to look up into his eyes. Landry is standing there, his thick beard covering those soft lips that I felt two days ago. The little bit of gray at his temples, doing nothing to detract from his handsome face. His amber eyes pointed and focused directly on me.
“Landry,” I whisper, after I know I’ve gawked for far too long.
He clears his throat, his eyes searching my face. “You’re okay?” he asks.
Nodding, I lick my bottom lip before I sink my teeth into it. His eyes flick down, watching my mouth, and I can’t control the way my heart starts to race at the way he’s watching me. I want him to cup my cheek, to kiss me, to slide his tongue between my lips