Chapter 47 Raegan
Raegan
I’ve honestly never seen so many tents. The streets are lined with one after another, from painters to whatever it is that people do with yarn to beautiful stained glass. The list goes on and on. We arrived about two hours ago and we still have yet to see everything.
My beautiful girl is clearly in heaven, though. I’m not convinced she’s even blinked for fear of missing something. She’s been consistently ten steps ahead of us the entire time. I think I even saw her skip once or twice.
“She looks happy,” Hayes says, giving my hand–that he’s been holding for the last thirty minutes–a gentle squeeze.
I inhale a long, slow breath, taking in the crisp, fresh air and allowing it to fill my lungs before releasing it just as slowly. “Yeah, she does. She loves all this artsy stuff and I don’t have an artistic bone in my body.”
“Maybe that’s what makes us all work so well together. She’s artsy fartsy, you’re the brains and I’m the business,” he counters.
I hear his words, but they don’t truly register. My mind is elsewhere, reeling over things I can’t change and certainly can’t take back. I’m not even sure I want to. My priorities are shifting. Or… have shifted.
We take a few more steps before Hayes halts and pulls me to face him. “You’ve been off all day. What’s going on with you?”
I tilt my head upward so I can see his face. My heart hammers in my chest and I furrow my brows as I make a last minute attempt to not let my outside match my insides.
His blue eyes, made brighter by the sun, bore into mine. “Don’t you dare try to tell me I’m wrong.”
Fuck. Damn him and his ability to read me like a book.
My lungs release the air they’ve been holding onto for just a little too long. “I got a letter from the Kansas licensing board.”
“A letter about what?”
My lips purse for a long moment while I gather thoughts and try to frame a coherent sentence in my head. “Someone reported me for unethical behavior with a patient. The letter doesn’t say who did it, but there aren’t that many people who knew. They’ve scheduled a hearing.”
“When?” he asks, releasing me and folding his arms across his chest with a sigh. He’s irritated–that makes two of us. He’s not going to like this next part.
“Wednesday morning. I have to fly out Tuesday evening at the latest since they won’t allow me to do it over video.”
Hayes glances over at Demetria, where she’s excitedly chatting with a quilt maker about god knows what. “When did you get this letter and when were you going to tell us?” he asks, his tone with a slight bite to it. He’s still watching Demetria. Is he mad right now?
“Hayes, look at me.” He swings his gaze back to mine. “It came about a week ago. Honestly, this is so fast. The board is backlogged and never works cases this quickly. Whoever did this, knew what they were doing or they greased the wheels to speed things along. I was going to tell you sooner, but…”
“Fuck. What about Demi?”
“I’ll tell her soon. Promise me you’ll let me tell her myself. She’s going to blame herself, I know it.”
“Raegan, Wednesday is less than a week away. Four days if we’re being specific. You have to tell her… now,” he presses.
“What do you have to tell me?” Demetria cuts in from my opposite side. Where the fuck did she come from? She was at least a hundred feet away last we checked.
I run my palms down my face. “Where the hell did you even come from? You were just over there!” I toss my arm and index finger in the direction of the quilter.
“I came up the back,” she chirps and Hayes snickers into his palm at her innocent innuendo. “There’s a lady here that makes art… with cum. Dried cum, but still cum. She was trying to be polite and called it semen, but I feel like she should just call it what it is. Cause it’s definitely cum.”
All Hayes and I can do is stare at her. We’ve both been stunned into silence.
“Soooooo, Hayes… she did say she’d teach me, but I’d have to supply my own cum. Well, not mine exactly…” Her lips form a crooked smile as she blinks rapidly, fluttering her lashes at the poor guy. He doesn’t stand a chance. I definitely wouldn’t.
The wheels in his brain visibly turn while he considers what she’s asking. Stroking his chin with his thumb, he finally answers, “I’ll tell you what, Little Pixie. You collect it with your mouth and you can use it for whatever you want.”
“I can’t believe you said yes to that!” I scoff.
“Eh, it’s just cum. There’s plenty more where that came from. You should know that by now.”
Demetria jumps up and down excitedly. “Thank you… Sir,” she coos and his expression shifts into one of arousal for just a second before he remembers what we were talking about–unfortunately.
“You’re welcome, Babygirl.”
He looks back to me and with zero expression, says, “Raegan has something she needs to tell you.”
Demetria stiffens. I hate that I have to tell her this. I know she’s going to want to carry this burden as her own. “What’s going on?”