Chapter Eight
When they got to Shelley's place, Trip stood in the living room while she ran upstairs to pack a bag. He stepped forward when he spotted a photograph of her and a friend sitting on the mantelpiece.
He picked it up to examine it more closely, tracing his finger over the frame. Both women were all dressed up. Shelley looked like a million dollars. She and her friend were both laughing. She looked happy—happier than he’d ever seen her. He set the photograph back down, wondering where it had been taken, where she'd been living at the time, and what the occasion was.
"All ready," she called as she came back down the stairs.
"That was fast. Do you have everything you need?"
"I do. And you shouldn't be surprised that it didn't take me long. I'm efficient. You should know that by now."
"You're right. I should, shouldn't I?" He glanced back at the photograph. "Is that your friend Harper?"
"It is, and I'm glad you asked. I said I'd talk to her tonight. I'll shoot her a text and let her know I won't be home."
"Call her if you like," said Trip. "I don't need to hog every single minute of your time."
He really didn't want to do that to her. He remembered how he used to feel when Katrina gave him a hard time for giving his attention to anything or anyone other than her.
Shelley smiled. "Maybe I'll give her a quick call then. She wants to come and visit before..." She let the words trail off, but Trip knew what she meant.
"You mean before you leave town?"
"Yeah." She came to him and rested her hand on his arm. "I ... I don't know what to say, Trip. I don't want to put pressure on either of us."
"Neither do I. It's easier for me. I'm not going anywhere. My home and my work are here. They have been for years. I don't want to put pressure on you because it feels one-sided."
She leaned her head to the side.
"I don't need to give anything up for you to stay. I'll still have my life. I'll still have my practice. I'll still have my friends around me. You're the one who'd have to sacrifice your plans. I know you've made friends here, but I also know that working at the clinic isn’t exactly your dream job."
"You're right," she agreed. "Then again, it's not as though I have any set plans anywhere else. I don't have some wonderful career opportunity waiting elsewhere either."
He studied her face as she thought it over. "I've kept moving on for the last few years because I enjoyed having my freedom back. Feeling independent after all those years being locked into my career and my marriage."
"I know. That's why I don't want to ask too much of you. I feel like asking you to stay would be asking you to give up that freedom and your independence. And that's not what I'm asking," he said, running his hand over his face. "We don't even know how things will work out between us."
She squeezed his arm and stepped back. "Exactly. That's why we agreed to see how things go while I'm still here. Right?"
"Yeah. Sorry. I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I?"
"You're just trying to figure it out, and that's what we need to do – but I don't think we'll manage that by talking about it. I think we'll just have to give it time and see how it plays out."
He smiled. "You're right, as usual. Shall we go, then?"
"Yeah. Are you sure you don't want me to follow you in my car?"
"I'm positive. Unless you want to have it in case you feel the need to escape."
She laughed. "No. I don't see that happening—but even if it does, I trust you to bring me home."
~ ~ ~
Shelley felt a little guilty as she took her phone out onto the back deck to call Harper. She peered back in through the kitchen window, and when Trip saw her, he laughed and made a shooing motion with his hand.
He'd said he was fine to get on with making dinner while she called her friend. He'd given her a glass of wine, and she'd decided that she might as well come out here since it was such a beautiful evening.
Just as she was about to call Harper, her phone lit up with an incoming text. It was Ari.
Ari: Where were you this afternoon? I thought you were going to come to the bakery to meet up with us all.
Shelley stared at the screen, wondering if she should admit that she'd completely forgotten about going to the bakery. While she was considering it, Ari sent another message:
Ari: I'd love to think that you and Trip were a no-show because you finally decided to give him a shot. But I reckon you were probably just working, right?
Shelley: We finished early, and I'm at his place now.
Ari: OMG! Does this mean...?
Shelley: Maybe. We're testing things out.
Ari: Awesome! I'll leave you to it. But I want to know all about it when you get the chance. If nothing else, you absolutely have to come out with us all on Wednesday night. And you can expect a full interrogation.
Shelley laughed as she replied.
Shelley: I'd expect nothing less from you, counselor.
Ari sent back a laughing emoji.
Shelley liked her a lot. She was another former lawyer. It struck Shelley that maybe she should have a chat with Ari and ask her about how she'd transitioned from her old career to living here in the valley. She didn't even work now. She helped Candy in the bakery sometimes and, from what Shelley understood, hung out and helped at Libby's barn and rode horses. But her life here was very different from the one she used to live as an attorney in Austin.
Deciding that she'd pull Ari aside on Wednesday night if nothing else, she pulled up Harper's number and hit the call button.
"Hey, Shelley Bells. How's you?"
"I'm good, thanks. This isn't going to be the long conversation I thought we'd have tonight, though."
"No? That's a bummer. Why not?"
Shelley looked over her shoulder at the kitchen door. "Because I'm at Trip's place. He invited me over for dinner. In fact, he invited me over for the weekend."
"Yay! That's awesome. You go enjoy yourself. We can catch up next week."
"No, I wanted to talk to you. We need to figure out when you're going to come and visit."
"I know, but you're busy right now."
Shelley laughed. "I'm not that busy. Trip's making dinner. He was the one who suggested that I should still call you since I said I would."
"Aww. He sounds awesome. Tell him I said thank you, will you?"
"I will. And he is. But enough about him. When do you want to come?"
"I should be free and clear after this week. I'm going to have a gap in my schedule. So, you tell me."
Shelley drummed her fingers against her thigh as she considered it.
"I can hear the cogs whirring," Harper said with a laugh. "If you're trying to factor in how much time you'll have to spare for me and how much time you'll still get with the sexy doctor, don't worry about it. I already told you I'm perfectly fine to entertain myself if you're otherwise engaged. Especially if you're hanging out with him. I like the sound of him."
"I know I don't need to babysit you the whole time, but I do want us to be able to hang out."
"And we will. Whenever you can spare the time. Wait a minute. Are you still thinking about leaving?"
Shelley looked up at the mountains as she considered the question. "I am...”
“Why not hang around for a while longer, see how things go?"
"I keep asking myself the same question."
"Do you even know where you're going next?"
"I don't. Just that it's time to move on."
"But why, Shelley?"
She glanced back at the door again. "I don't know, Harper. I just... This was only ever supposed to be a quick visit, and I've been here for months already... And..."
"But I thought the whole point of you being footloose and fancy-free was so that you could go with the flow. Be in the moment, whatever the moment holds. If you’re enjoying your moments there, why not stay?"
Shelley considered the question. "I can't renew the lease on my house again after the end of the month." It was the only concrete answer she had.
"So, find another one," said Harper. "How hard can it be?"
"From what they tell me, pretty damn hard around here in the summer. The place gets full of tourists visiting Yellowstone."
"Yeah, but I bet you could find somewhere if you really wanted to."
"Probably," Shelley agreed.
"I can tell I'm not going to get any more out of you, so how about this? How about I start looking at flights for the week after next and I'll get back to you when I find something that works for me and see if it works for you, too. In the meantime, you go and hang out with Trip. And while you're doing that, keep the question in mind. Why shouldn't you stay?"
"Okay, I'll do that. Let me know what you find in the way of flights, and I'll call you after work on Monday."
"Okay, I'll talk to you then. Have yourself a great weekend and say hi to Trip for me."
"I will. But what about you? What does your weekend hold?" Shelley felt bad that this entire conversation had been about her.
"You know me," said Harper. "I'm ticking along just fine. Now go. I'll talk to you on Monday. Love you, girl."
"Love you too."
~ ~ ~
After they'd eaten, they moved to the den, and Trip was pleased when Shelley sat right beside him on the sofa. She leaned her head against his shoulder as she asked, "What kind of movie are we watching tonight?"
He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. "Whatever you want to watch is good with me."
She looked up at him. "Would you mind if we watch the news first?"
"Sure." He handed her the remote. "You'll have to find it, though. I tried to steer clear of it most of the time. There's enough shit going on in the world, and since I can't do anything about it, I prefer not to know."
She leaned back and studied his face. "Really? You surprise me.”
“I'm not apathetic, if that's what you're thinking. I prefer to consider myself realistic."
She nodded. "As a former Navy SEAL, I would never have thought of you as apathetic."
"Exactly. I dedicated my life along with my friends to do everything within my power to make the world a better place. When it comes to the stuff I have no control over, I'd rather not know."
"I can see that." She looked down at the remote in her hand. "It doesn't matter–"
"No," he interrupted her. "I don't mind watching it with you. I just don't make a habit of it."
"I don't either, normally. I was just curious to see what's going on. And I only mean the local news."
He jerked his chin toward the TV. "Turn it on then; let's see what's going on."
When she found the local news channel, Trip leaned back against the sofa and put his feet up on the coffee table. Shelley leaned against him, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He smirked to himself as the local news team did a segment about potholes on one of the main roads in Bozeman.
"Wow," Shelley exclaimed. "And they consider this to be news around here?"
He chuckled. "Yeah. That's about the extent of it."
They watched for another ten minutes, learning all about the local sports teams’ achievements and failures. When the commercials came on, he turned to her. "I'm guessing that didn't satisfy your need to know what's going on in the world."
"As a matter of fact, it reassured me that there's nothing much going on at all, is there?" She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, looking thoughtful.
He didn't want to ask, but he had to. "Is it too quiet out here for you? Do you need to be in a place where there's more going on?"
She shook her head slowly. "I don't. City life is part of what I burned out on."
She looked up at him as if she could hear the questions running through his head. "I feel like I need to move on because it's just what I do. At least it's what I've been doing for the last few years.
"I told you that Harper said to say hi to you. What I didn't tell you is that she asked me why I need to move on."
His heart rate picked up as he waited for her to continue.
She gave him a wry smile. "The best I can come up with is that it's just become a habit."
He decided to risk it and say, "So there's no good reason that you need to leave?"
Her expression made him backpedal quickly. "I'm not saying that your freedom and independence aren't good reasons. Just... you'd still be free and independent here."
"I think you and Harper will get along; she said pretty much the same thing. And as I explained to her, the only real reason that I need to move on is because I can't stay in the house after the end of the month."
He inhaled deeply. "It might be a crazy suggestion, but I'm going to make it anyway—I know a place you could stay."
She raised her eyebrows.
"It's a place where there's plenty of room. And from what I hear, the beds are really comfortable."
She pushed at his shoulder. "Thanks, Trip."
His heart raced as he waited for her to say more. He was surprised at himself for making the offer. They'd agreed that they were going to play things by ear, and here he was getting ahead of himself again.
When it looked like she wasn't going to say anything else, he added, "No pressure and no strings. Maybe you'll find that you can't bring yourself to leave me, and you want to stay to be with me. And even if you find that you're just not ready to leave the valley yet, and you just want to be friends, there's plenty of room here."
She reached up and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Thanks, Trip. You're a good man."
~ ~ ~
It was still early when Shelley woke up on Saturday morning. Trip had left the curtains open, and she could see that the sky was only just beginning to lighten. She tilted her head back to look up at him.
His face was relaxed in sleep. She was surprised at herself—her head was resting on his chest, her arm wrapped around his stomach. It wasn't like her. Then again, after their antics last night, she'd been exhausted. Her limbs had felt limp as noodles after he made love to her. She wouldn't be surprised if she hadn't moved all night.
She was naked, too. Though, even if she'd had the energy to get up and put on pajamas, she wouldn't have. She loved the feel of his naked body against hers.
She traced her fingers over his chest. He must do an awful lot of working out to stay in such good shape, especially considering the amount of food he managed to put away. She chuckled when she remembered he'd eaten two servings of Maisie's coffee cake after dinner last night.
As she lay there, she had to ask herself the same question that both Trip and Harper had asked: Did she really have any good reason to leave?
She didn't. She didn't even have a plan for where she would go. She’d just grown so used to the life she'd been living, where she only stayed in one place for a few months at most.
She looked up again at his handsome face. She'd be crazy to leave. Or would she? Would it be crazy to stay in one place for a man? She honestly didn't know. She might be afraid to tie herself down into a situation that could end up draining the life out of her. But she also had to face the fact that she was just as afraid of walking away from a man who could become a very important part of her life.
She smiled when Trip ran his hand over her hair.
"Morning, honey," he said, his voice gravelly and still sleepy. "Are you doing okay?"
"Morning. I am. I'm good. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
"You didn't." Tingles raced over her skin as he ran his hand down her arm. "I was dreaming. That's what woke me up."
"What were you dreaming about?"
He chuckled and rolled them so that she was on her back, and he was looking down into her eyes.
"Aren't you going to tell me?" she asked.
He winked. "No, I'd rather show you."
She ran her hands over his shoulders, loving the way he shivered at her touch. "I like the sound of that. Go ahead and show me, and we can make it a very good morning."