Stormy Surrender - By Nicole Andrews Moore Page 0,33

and watched as Marti tentatively picked at her meal.

Before long they were finished eating and had begun talking about the project more when Joey’s phone chimed announcing he had a new text. He opened it, read it, and his entire demeanor changed. “I need to go.” He stood up suddenly and knocked over his chair. His hands were shaking as he picked it up. He looked at her and tried to speak, but stumbled over his words.

“What if we meet at the house tomorrow morning, say…9am?” He could see that she was trying to act like all of this was no big deal, doing her best to help him calm down.

“Fine,” he nodded. He grabbed his wallet from his back pocket, opened it, yanked out the first $20 bill he found and dropped it on the table. Then he rushed from the café and didn’t stop until he was sitting in the cab of his truck. He threw his head back against the head rest. His chest was tightening painfully. His head was pounding. He opened the phone again. He had to in order to believe it was real.

From: Bitch!

Message: Happy New Year!

It probably meant nothing. There was nothing personal about it. In his mind, he imagined that she had sent that same message to her entire contact list. That was her style. It made sense that he would be in her phone. He had never changed his phone number. That was what it was. And he was all upset over nothing. The problem was his heart. He wasn’t sure he was strong enough to keep her at bay. He never was before. Still, much had changed over the last three years. He wasn’t the same man. And he doubted that she was she same girl. That was a big part of what scared him.

He drove home, slammed the truck into park, and stormed into the house. It was dinner time, but since he had just eaten he wouldn’t be hungry. The sun was already low in the sky. For the first time in a long time he was thankful for short days and long nights. He walked into the bathroom and looked at his face in the mirror. There was only one way to handle this much stress. He opened up the medicine cabinet and cursed when he realized he had nothing stronger than Tylenol PM. It would have to do. He read the bottle for warnings and the suggested dosage before he decided it didn’t matter. He had abused his body enough over the years that he felt impervious to the ill effects. He counted out five, slammed them toward the back of his throat and swallowed hard, adding water he slurped from scooped hands under the running faucet.

Walking back out into the bedroom, he kicked off his Lugz, and flopped down on the bed without even taking his clothes off or pulling back the covers. He started to take off his phone to plug it in, but decided against it. Afraid that it might chime while he was sleeping, he threw it across the room into his closet. At the moment he didn’t even care if he couldn’t find it in the morning. Then he closed his eyes and decided to sleep until it was a new day.

Since she really didn’t have anywhere to be, Marti sat and worked on her To Do lists while she sipped on a hot tea. She was so deep in thought that she barely noticed when Laurel sat across from her. She didn’t realize that she was the last one in the café, or that the café was closed for the day. It took Laurel clearing her throat before she even looked up.

“I would let you stay here as long as you want, but I have a dog that has been stuck inside all day and I need to get home while there is still a home to go to,” Laurel explained as she peeked at Marti’s paper. “Whatcha working on?”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” She exclaimed apologetically. “I didn’t even think. Today has me all thrown off.” She smiled and turned the papers so Laurel could read them. “I bought a house.” She about squealed, she was so proud and excited. “And Joey is helping me fix it up!”

There was a sigh. A loud sigh. The kind of sigh that made Marti suddenly second guess everything. She shrank a little in her seat and pulled her papers back before speaking. And by