Chapter 34 An Empty Bed
An Empty Bed
SARAH
When I woke up to find Jamie gone, I had a moment of panic.
I sat up, wincing at the tenderness between my legs.
He’d left. I looked around—no note, either. My stomach churned.
He was gone. I’d slept with my boss, and he’d slipped out in the night like it meant nothing. Something sharp and frantic pricked at my neck. If he acted like he always did when I saw him downstairs today…
But he couldn’t, could he? Not after all his confessions from last night.
Calm down, Sarah.
I flopped back on the bed. Winona’s wisdom came fluttering down into my brain.
This was fine. It was okay. I had centered myself, and I’d gotten what I wanted.
For one moment, I allowed myself to replay everything that had happened.
The sex came up first—how could it not? It was the best I’d ever had by an absolute long shot.
By a thousand laps around a racetrack. I ached all over from it, and it was exquisite.
But the sex paled in comparison to Jamie showing me his true feelings. Telling me I hadn’t imagined what we’d had between us.
And the reframe I’d had of the past year.
I padded to the bathroom and was hit with a wallop of the memory of being here in the bathroom with him. How he’d wanted me to see. But more than that, what he’d said afterward.
“It’ll never be enough, Sarah.”
He wasn’t going to turn cold again. How could he, after this? I was confident. It felt good, feeling confident, like I was trying on something new for the first time and the whole thing fit like a glove.
I scrubbed myself down, taking my time. The breakfast session didn’t start until nine.
Today was the last day of the conference, and there were only a couple of morning sessions before the thing wound down at noon to ensure everyone could make their travel arrangements.
Maybe, if we could manage it, we could come back to one of our rooms for a last go before we had to check out.
Or maybe the weather would give us an extra day in snowy paradise.
Everything back at home… Well, I’d think about that later.
It was only when I heard a loud buzz on my bedside table that I thought to pick up my phone. I hadn’t touched it since the party last night.
My heart nearly stopped when I saw the screen.
There were several text messages, most from Ellie. But it wasn’t those that had me sucking in air and sprinting to the closet for my shoes.
It was the single text from someone not in my contacts.
UNKNOWN: I’m in the back, by the Ficus. Take your time.
I overslept. I never overslept.
I was supposed to meet Natasha at the breakfast buffet in five minutes.