“That’s so sweet,” I said. “I love that the two of you were high school sweethearts and now you’re married with a child.”
For the rest of the evening, Ava and I drank, munched on the appetizers, and bonded. We got to know each other through stories and a lot of laughter. I had no idea how many hours or how many drinks later it was when I noticed Ava looking at the door to the bar. She leaned across toward me.
“Look who’s here,” she said in a loud whisper.
I wasn’t sure what she was talking about until Tom walked up the side of the table. He looked at me with concern in his eyes.
“I went up to the room, but you weren’t there. I had no idea where you were,” he said.
“Right here,” I said, holding my arms out to encompass the bar.
“I came to the rescue for girls’ night,” Ava said.
“Well, if I’m not interrupting, can I join you?” he asked.
“Absolutely,” I said.
He sat down and ordered two drinks right off the bat. He downed them quickly and was soon on his way to loosening up. It was a relief. He had been tense and a little on edge since the night before. It was good to see him relax a bit.
The night continued on with the three of us talking and laughing. After a while, Ava looked at her phone, then announced she needed to go. Mason had already called the rideshare for her so he didn’t have to wake up the baby to come pick her up. She gave me a hug and headed off with a promise of us hanging out again soon. Tom and I lingered at the bar a little while longer.
“If you didn’t know where I was, why didn’t you just call me?” I suddenly asked.
Tom laughed. “Took you long enough to swing all the way back to that conversation. You don’t have your phone on you.”
“I don’t?” I asked.
I started to lean down to pick up my purse, and gravity got the best of me. I tipped over and couldn’t stop myself from heading straight for the floor. He managed to get up and scoop me out of the air before I toppled onto the ground.
“Maybe we should go on up to the room,” Tom said.
“Might be a good idea,” I replied.
We were both a little tipsy and giggled our way across the lobby and into the elevator. The walk down the hallway to our corner room felt like it stretched on forever. Finally, we got there, and Tom used his key card to open the door. I waltzed inside without paying attention to where I was going, and suddenly my feet tangled beneath me.
I was heading face-first for the floor for the second time that evening, but Tom was right there to catch me again. I fell into his arms, and he brought me up close to his body. The spark was instant and intense. It took my breath, and my eyes locked with his. Everything seemed to pause for that moment.
I snapped out of it and looked away. “Thank you, again. I don’t know why I can’t stay upright.”
“Alcohol,” he said. “But this time it was my jacket. I must have dropped it on the floor when I came in here to check for you.”
He helped me up to my feet. I stepped away from him and took a breath. Gesturing toward the bedroom door, I tried to look like my heart wasn’t pounding in my chest.
“I’m going to head to bed. Feel free to go in the bathroom if you need to.”
Without waiting for his response, I scurried into the bedroom, shut the door, and changed into my pajamas as fast as I could so I could bury myself in the bed in case he needed to pass through the room. And this was the first night in my adult life I went to bed without brushing my teeth, but there was so much more on my mind.
11
Tom
When I woke up the next morning, the first thing I noticed was how uncomfortable my pajama pants were. The lingering, powerful dream still rolling through my mind had caused me to pitch a tent so strong that I instinctively unbuttoned the single middle button to let it out. I willed myself not to touch it and tried to focus on something else, anything else, in order to avoid the indignity of her being in the next room while I jerked