46. Malcolm
Malcolm
The car is quiet as I drive us toward my parents’, trying to think of somewhere we can end our night apart from their front porch.
I pick up her hand and place a kiss to it.
“You’ve kissed me a lot tonight.” She squeezes my hand. “Not that I mind.”
“I’m trying to memorize the feel of you in my hands and against my lips. I want to hold onto as much of it as I can so when you leave I can close my eyes and pretend you’re here.”
Makenna lets out a breathy, “Oh.”
“So what is it you wanted to talk to me about?”
She’s quiet for a moment. “This feels like terrible timing.”
Panic seizes me, and I slow the car. It’s late, and there’s very little traffic, but Makenna is now pulling even more of my attention than she did when I was kissing her hand.
I attempt to steady myself. This might now be something bad. “Now’s the only time we have. In person, anyway.”
She grips my hand harder, and I brace myself for what she’s about to say. Did I open myself up again for yet another woman to leave me?
“I think we may need to have some time apart to make sure this isn’t just a vacation romance.” She speaks the words so quickly, like she is trying to get it over with.
“We are about to have time apart,” I say, unsure where she could be going with this.
“Yes. I’m sorry. I meant … totally apart. Like no contact for an established amount of time. We can go back to our normal lives and make sure we still feel the way we do now when the time is up.”
I’m stunned. I’d imagined very frequent video calls, and random texting all the time about anything and everything. It was comforting to think that even if she was leaving, I could still see her sweet face and hear her beautiful voice.
“How”—I clear my throat—“how long?”
“I was thinking … two weeks? It’s about how long we’ve known each other.”
Two weeks. I can do anything for two weeks. Except go without water. And as dramatic as it sounds, I feel as if that’s what’s been proposed.
“Okay.” I sigh. “What made you decide to do this? Something like this would have never occurred to me.”
“That woman, Morvan, talked to me about her failed marriage. She fell in love on vacation and should have left things on vacation. Instead, they spent a miserable year together. She didn’t discourage us being together, just suggested we be more careful than she was.
And I think it’s smart. I hope, and think, that at the end of the two weeks, we’ll both be more than ready to reconnect.
I’m betting we will have tasted life without the other and found it dull and flavorless. ”
“So you’re not having doubts?”
“I’m not, not really. But also, how sure can either of us be after two weeks?”
I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but I’ve been feeling quite sure. If she needs this, though, I’ll give it to her.
“Okay. Two weeks of torture. Maybe it’s a good idea.”
She smiles and squeezes my hand. “Thank you.”
“How’re you holding up?” Rory stepped into the E.D. a few minutes after me, a bag and two coffees in hand. He passed me one of the drinks and sat the bag down on the nurses station counter. “I brought scones, just in case.”
“In case I need to eat my feelings?”
He shrugs. “I know you preferred extra exercise when Cait left, but the situation with Makenna is different. And I figured if you didny want it, I’d eat it. I love scones.”
“I’ll eat it, but not because I need to eat my feelings.”
“If you say so, mate.” Rory pulls one out and hands it to me.
“Thank you.”
“So how many times have you texted her already? Is she on her flight yet?”
“None, and no, she doesn’t take off for another two hours.”
“And you hevny texted her?”
“Nope. She asked that we take a two-week break to see how we feel at the end of it. Was this a vacation romance, or something more?”
“What? That’s … I mean, that would have never crossed my mind.”
“Mine either. And it might not have crossed Makenna’s, but someone at the gala told her a cautionary tale of a failed vacation romance turned marriage.”
“Who?”
“Apparently Dr. Mackenzie’s wife had been married before.”
“Oooh.”
I shrug. “The only thing I can figure is that maybe it’s different for Makenna. She was literally on vacation. I’ve been in my real life. Granted, it’s been much different, but I’ve been in my home, been around my family, going to my job. It all felt natural to me. Maybe she needs this, though.”
“Maybe so. And I bet it will be one of those absence-makes-the-heart-grow-fonder situations,” Rory says, then bites into his scone.
I take a bite of mine. Blueberry. Rory’s a good friend; he knows what I like.
“I hope so.” Then I change the subject hoping distraction now will help me focus later. “I didny miss you sitting close to Isla at the pub Friday.”
He grins. “I’ve given up on you setting us up. I’m also choosing not to be offended by the fact that you hevny.”
“I knew she’d prefer you pursuing her yourself. I’ve just been waiting for it to happen.”
“You could have said something.” He sips his coffee, then takes off the lid to blow into the cup.
“It was more fun waiting on you to make the decision yourself.”
“I guess I’ll forgive you since we’ll be brothers one day.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Isla will be a tough nut to crack.”
Later on, I’m heading to lunch and I pull out my phone.
I open the site where I’ve been tracking Makenna’s flight.
She’s just touched down in London. My heart squeezes knowing how far she is from me, and I dread the moment in ten hours or so when she makes it home. This is going to be a long two weeks.