Rhys: by Ali Parker & Weston Parker

Author:Ali Parker & Weston Parker [Parker, Ali & Parker, Weston]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B07HTYC3NG
Publisher: BrixBaxter Publishing
Published: 2018-09-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Quinn

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and stared down at it. I let out a frustrated sigh and hovered my thumb over Rhys’s phone number.

Nancy looked up from behind the reception desk at the parlor. “What’s up, Quinn?”

“He still hasn’t messaged me.”

“Rhys?”

“Yeah, who else?”

“Sorry,” Nancy said. Then she lifted her pen and tapped it against her chin. “Maybe he ended up stopping at a motel on his way home or something? Like you said, it would have been a long, cold ride.”

I scratched the back of my neck. “Yeah. Maybe.”

Nancy stood up and walked around the desk to plop down on the tattoo bench in front of me. Her feet dangled off the floor, and she swung her legs. The shop was empty, and we didn’t have any appointments for the last half hour of the day. “Just call him.”

“I don’t want to. It was so awkward how he left. I don’t want him to think I’m some crazy girl who’s obsessed with him or something.”

Nancy cocked her head to the side. “But you are a crazy girl who’s obsessed with him.”

I slapped her knee. “Shut up, Nancy.”

Nancy smiled, but she didn’t laugh at me. “You’ll drive yourself crazy just wondering where he is. Call him. And then you can at least go to bed tonight and not be worried.”

She was right, of course. I’d already twirled strands of my hair so tightly that I pulled them out of my head. I pressed dial and lifted the phone to my ear. He didn’t answer, so I left him a voicemail. I kept it simple. “Hey, it’s me. Just wanted to make sure you got back to New York in one piece. Let me know.”

Nancy nodded approvingly as I tucked the phone back in my pocket. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“No. But it wasn’t so easy, either.”

Nancy put her hand on my shoulder. “I know, babe.” She slid off the seat and went to the storage closet where she grabbed a broom and a Swiffer mop. She held them both up, and I pointed at the Swiffer. She tossed it to me and started sweeping in the north corner, working her way out through the rest of the shop. I followed behind her with the mop.

“I just wished he’d stayed another night,” I said once we were halfway done. I needed to talk about this. Carrying it around in my head wasn’t doing me any favors.

“I know.”

“And I don’t understand why he couldn’t. Would one night really make that much of a difference to him? I mean, it’s not like sleeping at my place would solidify anything. It wouldn’t change anything between us either.”

Nancy rested her chin on the end of her broom. “Have you stopped to seriously consider what it’s like from his perspective?”

“Of course I have.”

“Quinn, I mean it. Be objective, and really think about it.”

I stared blankly at her.

Nancy laughed, shook her head, and continued sweeping. But she didn’t leave me hanging. She was good like that.

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