Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Addison was running late to meet Anna at Eat & Run.
But that was Walker’s fault. She had been in the shower getting ready to go to lunch, and he had come home from doing something on the ranch, and had joined her, which had been more than a little bit distracting, and had made the shower take a whole lot longer than it would have otherwise.
And he had made good on his promise to keep condoms everywhere. He’d had one hiding in the shower. And he had made very good use of it.
She wasn’t this person. Not usually. This person who thought about sex and pleasure all the time.
But he made her like that.
She was spending way too much time thinking about it, actually.
But it was so great. It made her not regret it, not at all.
Except, she was going to have to explain why she was running late, and she wasn’t sure she had it in her to lie.
She parked her car and bustled into the restaurant. She waved at Donna when she walked in and sat down across from Anna.
“Sorry,” she said.
“Oh no, it’s fine,” Anna said. “I only almost chewed off my own arm because I’m so hungry, but it’s fine.” Anna smiled. “Kidding.”
“Right. Well. I can’t wait to hear about your idea.”
“I just want to hear about why you’re late.”
“Lost track of time.”
“You never lose track of time, Addison. It’s simply not in you.”
Addison chewed her lower lip, and let out a sigh of relief when Donna came to the table to take their order.
This time, she just went ahead and ordered a cheeseburger and fries.
Anna did the same.
And then, once Donna was gone, she no longer had a buffer.
“Walker,” she said. “Walker is why I was late.”
“Some kind of online live video where the two of you talk about your relationship? An interview?”
“No,” she said, looking down. “He joined me in the shower.”
Anna did an actual spit take across the top of her water cup. “What?”
“I know. I know. He... we... I... well, this is a little bit harder than I thought it would be.”
“You’re sleeping with him.”
“Yes. Do you blame me?”
“No. I don’t. I absolutely don’t. I’m just surprised because you haven’t. All these years, and you haven’t.”
“You say that like he put in an open offer years ago.”
“He pretty much did. It was well known that that guy had a thing for you.”
“No, he didn’t. Not any more than he would have been into any girl who was into him,” Addison said.
“No. He had a specific thing for you. Trust.”
“But I... no way.”
“Yes, really. But that doesn’t matter. What really matters is that I need to know if he’s as good in bed as he looks like he would be, and if he’s not, then my view of the world is going to be shattered.”
“He’s better,” Addison said.
“Wow,” Anna said. “This really is a rebound for the ages.”
That made Addison feel a little bit weird.
Because Walker didn’t feel like a rebound.
That made it sound like she was using him, and she really didn’t feel like she was.
She felt like... well, it was hard to say what she felt like.
She felt like she was just exploring this really wonderful thing with this person that she actually liked a lot.
He was a good guy. And she felt like she actually understood him, and even more importantly, she felt like he understood her. And that understanding brought her closer to having an idea of who she was.
“Anyway, I’m only human,” Addison said. “I wouldn’t say that I’m rebounding, but I do want him. I have wanted him.”
“Well, don’t go building fantasies about him. You usually date guys that are more marriage and family oriented, because that’s what you always wanted.”
“I’m a grown woman. I’m capable of having a no-strings affair without romanticizing it.”
She was pretty sure she was, anyway.
“Well, I’m happy for you. Because you definitely deserve to exorcise the demon of Alan in a fun way.”
“Thank you. As my friend and campaign manager, that means a lot coming from you. Particularly because I was sort of afraid that you would be a buzz kill and say that I didn’t have time to get my back cracked while I’m running a campaign.”
“I never thought I would hear you say get my back cracked, but no, I think a woman has time to orgasm and run for mayor. We can have it all.”
Donna came over a few moments later and set their meal down, and they both smiled up at her.
“So, why exactly did you want to meet?”
“I am thinking that we need to do an event for the campaign. A fundraiser, a chance for you to put your face out there, restate the goals of your campaign. We’re three months away from the election.
And we need to start ramping up. I think we can use the ramp that we built off of the cancelled wedding, and we can get a lot of people in-house for an event. ”
“We should do it at Painted Ridge Resort.”
“Totally agree. Having it at the site of your wedding that got called off, I think that’s a genius move.
Actually, let’s have it at the exact same place that you were going to have the wedding.
We’ll set up chairs, we’ll put dinner out, you can walk down the aisle by yourself and make a speech. I love it.”
“Just don’t ask me to wear a wedding dress.”
“No. A white power suit.”
“Again, you’re aware that I’m not running for president, right?”
“Yet.”
“Won’t be happening.”
“We’ll see. But anyway, I like this idea. I think we can bring in a lot of people who can really amplify it on social media.”
“Again,” Addison said. “I think we’re making this bigger than it even needs to be.”
“There’s no such thing as bigger than it needs to be. We are making hay while the sun shines. How is it working for the resort?”
“They said that business has increased a lot.”
“Exactly. And it’s brought business into the town. And we love that. We need it. All of this helps accomplish your campaign goals.”
“I have some things I need to add,” Addison said, feeling nudged by the memories of her conversations with everyone at dinner yesterday.
She told Anna about the Mustangs, about Walker’s idea for a food pantry that was laid out more like a store.
“I love all this,” Anna said. She paused for a moment and smiled. “Whatever this is with Walker, it’s really good for you.”
“I think so, too,” Addison said, her heart fluttering.
“He just makes me think about things that I haven’t before.
I know that I didn’t try to be the best version of myself in high school.
I thought I was, though. I thought that by keeping all these guard rails around myself, keeping people at a distance, that I was being the best version of myself, but I understand now that I wasn’t.
That my perspective was really limited. I’ve tried since then.
To be a better person. To be a good person, but one of the things that I’ve lacked is perspective. He’s given me a lot of perspective.”
“That’s good. I think it’s really good.”
“So do I.”
They finished eating, and Anna packed up all of her notes and her computer. “Do you want to go shopping?”
“I’m actually going... camping tonight? Apparently.”
“Camping. You. I’ve never seen the mustangs. I need to see the mustangs. Especially because defending them is going to become part of my campaign.”
Anna looked agog. “You really like him.”
Addison looked away. “I don’t know that I... I mean... all I’m going to say is that I never realized that sex was supposed to be this good.”
“If the sex is so good it’s making you camp, I feel like that’s a little bit beyond just I don’t have a lot to compare it to.”
“I have plenty to compare it to, but I’ve never wanted a man enough to submit myself to sleeping in a sleeping bag outside.”
“This isn’t about sex, it’s about mustangs.”
“It’s about sex.”
Fine. Maybe it was. But they did go to one of the boutiques at the end of the block to buy some very sporty-looking campwear, and a cute little coffee set. Then a backpack, and a special thin sleeping bag that would keep her extra warm, even though it was pretty warm at night, as it was.
By the time she met up with Walker again, she was almost overly prepared.
“What is this?” he asked, looking down at her. She had her backpack on, and she was clinging tightly to the shoulder straps.
“I’m ready to camp.”
“I have supplies,” he said.
“Well, now I have them, too. I’m ready to go out and see the Mustangs.”
“We’re just going to sleep in the bed of the truck.”
“Yeah. It’s plenty big enough. I mean, I have to open the tailgate up so that I can put my feet out.”
“Aren’t you worried about... predators?”
“Why? Because you think you can fist fight a bear?”
“I could fist fight a bear, Addison, ye of little faith, but also, it’s not like we get a lot of bears down there.
I know the area well. We’re going to go down into the valley, rather than up, on Painted Ridge.
Painted Ridge is a good place to see the horses from far away, but I thought you might want to be more up close and personal. ”
“This all sounds good. Really it does, except the part where I’m supposed to sleep in the bed of a pickup truck.”
“I thought you were ready for the adventure. Prepared for any eventuality?”
“I mean, I thought we would at least have a tent.”
“All the better to sleep under the open sky.”
As she found herself being bundled up into the truck, she couldn’t help but reflect on what Anna had said.
Maybe she was being insane over sex. Because she couldn’t imagine anyone else getting her to agree to do this.
Except, no. It wasn’t just about sex. It was about her wanting to test her own limits.
Her wanting to see what she was capable of, what she liked.
This was the kind of thing that her dad would have said was dangerous.
Even though it was safe. Really. It was on his ranch that he was familiar with, and if there was actually a threat, of course, he would know that.
In that way, she didn’t need to worry.