8. Mira
Mira
“And what are you going to tell your dad when he asks about it?” Ronnie pushes. Brock and Branson are playing in the living room here in my townhouse. Molly and Milo are in my bedroom, probably hiding from the hyper boys.
Getting on that plane and leaving Cord behind was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. But I knew it would be even harder if I stayed those extra two days. As it was, my flight was the usual seventeen hours, then Ronnie picked me up from the airport.
After a terrible night’s sleep in my own bed on a new mattress that I asked my assistant to have delivered, I’m exhausted. I keep telling myself that nothing has changed, but it doesn’t feel that way. It feels like my heart is in a villa next to a cowboy whose touch sets me on fire.
I square my shoulders and finish brewing the tea for her. “I’ll tell him the truth.”
“He’ll be crushed,” she answers.
I shrug. I’ve already put all my vacation clothes in the wash, cleaned the place from top to bottom and prepared three weeks’ worth of dinners that I set in the freezer.
I was shocked when I arrived home to discover that Stuart had moved out completely.
There wasn’t a trace that he’d ever lived here.
I expected that he’d try to insist he has legal rights since he’s been staying over frequently in the months before the wedding.
I thought I’d have to fight him through the court system to get him evicted.
But he just vanished into the mist, and I’m so relieved.
“What exactly happened?” Ronnie asks. She’s been patient with me, asking very few questions, and I haven’t given her many details. She only asked if he’d hurt me, and I told her absolutely not.
“He was amazing, in every way,” I tell her now, putting her tea on the table. I have to step around the yellow paint cans. I’ve been planning on painting the kitchen for almost three months now and still haven’t done it yet.
“But you came home without him. Two days early from your honeymoon. No one does that, Mira,” she points out. “What aren’t you telling me?”
I take a seat across from her, not sure how to put all of this in words. “He’s…the kind of guy you dream about. Sweet, caring, and…” I glance toward the kids but they’re busy having fun and not paying us any attention. “S-e-x-y as hell in bed. The things he did…”
“And you thought the best response to this amazing, perfect guy you met was to run away?” The question is asked in a gentle tone, but it still cuts me deeply.
If I expected anyone to understand, it’s Ronnie.
She’s been through the ringer. She knows what it’s like when things just won’t work out.
It’s why she hasn’t dated in a while. It’s why I purchased one of the cowboys from the Cuddle a Cowboy website for her.
Every woman deserves a cowboy for her birthday, and she did say she wanted something fun to ride.
“Because we don’t live close to each other. We work completely different jobs, and we got married twenty minutes after meeting!” My voice has gone higher with every word I’ve spoken.
She sends me a sympathetic look. “So, you’re not even going to give him a chance?”
I drop my gaze to the table, my voice breaking, “If…if he wanted a chance, he would have said something on the honeymoon. He doesn’t want me.”
“Oh, honey.” She gets up from the table and comes around to my side to wrap me in a tight hug while I will myself not to cry.
It won’t change anything. What happened between me and Cord was magical.
I’ll never forget him if I live to be a hundred, but I can’t make him want me. Just like I couldn’t with Stuart.
The doorbell rings, and I sniff, managing to hold myself together by some miracle. “That’s probably the delivery of my new vibrator from the Single and Lonely website.”
She chuckles, knowing it’s not true. “You stay here, and I’ll get it.”
I take a sip of my tea and try to compose myself while she goes to answer the door. So, I’ll be alone for the rest of my life. I can be happy. There are a lot of strong, successful women who also happen to be single. Besides, I just met Cord. I can’t be that hung up on him.
As if the universe is laughing at me, I hear him. Or at least, I think I do. He calls my name then he’s barreling into my dining room. He’s wearing his usual blue jeans, flannel, and Stetson. But it’s the look in his eyes, a cross between fury and relief that has my heart skipping a beat.
I get to my feet and open my mouth. I have a million questions, and I don’t even know which one to start with.
He doesn’t let me ask him any questions. Instead, he pulls me into his arms and wraps me in the biggest hug. “Don’t ever leave without saying goodbye again.”
I let him squeeze me tight, the tension of the last twenty-four hours bleeding away now that he’s here. I don’t know why he is, and maybe he just wants to go over the details of our upcoming divorce, but still, he’s here. He’s holding me.
“Do you know how much I missed you?” The words are soft and for my ears only. They make the butterflies in my stomach swoop. I never in a million years expected Cord to follow me home.
“Hi, I’m Ronnie,” she announces from behind us.
Cord turns and takes her outstretched hand. “Cord, we met at the wedding.”
Ronnie’s bright smile never falters. “I will carve you up like a Jack-O-Lantern if you hurt my girl. Do you understand?”
“I’ll sharpen the knife myself if I do,” he replies.
She nods. “Then we’ll get out of your hair for now. Mira, honey, call me later. My carving supplies are still in my garage, and it’s never a bother to stop by.”
I wave goodbye to her and the boys, waiting until they’re gone to turn my full attention back to Cord. “You’re here.”
“I’ve been in combat zones, survived a bomb blast, had my ex-girlfriend cheat on me and get pregnant with another man’s child. None of that hurt the way it did to wake up without you by my side. What happened, Mira?”
I wrap my arms around myself, the thought that I hurt him is making me sick to my stomach. “I wasn’t trying to hurt you. I just…I didn’t know how to say goodbye.”
“Well, you said it in the most painful way possible.”
I take a deep breath, a litany of excuses on my tongue. Then I think about how none of them will make him feel better. “I’m sorry. I could have—I should have handled that differently.”
“Thank you.” He nods. “Now, which bedroom is mine?”
“What are you talking about?” I gape at him. I thought he was just here for an apology and then he’d just leave. We can both go back to our normal lives, and I can cry myself to sleep every night.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be a quiet roommate, and I don’t have much to bring in. Just my bags,” he answers as if we’re about to be roommates for real. He can’t possibly be serious about this.
“You’re moving in with me?”
“Yep, you’re stuck with me until the divorce,” he answers.
“You can’t do this. We have to be legally separated for a year before we can file. It’s how divorce works in North Carolina.”
“Here’s the deal. I live with you for a year. After the year is over, if you still want a divorce, I’ll give you an uncontested one and walk away forever. Otherwise, you’re about to go through a very messy, very public divorce. I know you and your dad don’t want that for the company.”
“You’re blackmailing me!” I sputter out the words. I didn’t think Cord was the type of person to do this.
“I’m a cowboy. Playing dirty doesn’t bother me. So, what’s your choice: new roommate or messy divorce?”
“I only have one bathroom.” It’s weak, but I’m grappling for any excuse to get him out of here. My townhouse is nice, but it’s not that nice. It’s not like I’m living in a mansion. Then I could understand if he wanted to move in.
“I believe our honeymoon is evidence that we can share a bathroom. Hell, I’m not opposed to more communal showers, roomie.”
I grit my teeth, telling myself not to think about how good it felt in the shower when he dropped to his knees and licked me until I was crying out or how amazing it was when he used the detachable shower head to pleasure me. “You’re only here until we get divorced.”