Page 9 of Saving Shepperd

I had plans to hit a local pub for happy hour with two coworkers, and just as I parked in the lot downtown, my phone buzzed with an incoming text.

Hey there! TGIF!

The message was from Shepperd. I stared at the screen for a minute or two, trying to decide the best way to handle her. Were we going to pretend that episode at my house never happened? I couldn’t even lie to myself and say I didn’t want to see her again. Hell, she was filling every free moment in my mind. Maybe I just needed to sleep with her and put her in my rearview mirror. I’d get the curiosity out of my system and get some much-needed sexual tension released too.

Yeah, I liked the sound of that plan. So I texted her back before getting out of my car.

Hey yourself! How was your week?

I locked my car and set the alarm before dropping the key into my front pants pocket. I confirmed that I had my wallet and headed toward the bar’s front entrance. Parking was a bit challenging because the weekend was getting started, so the closest lot I found was a few blocks away. While I slowly walked to meet my buddies, I watched the bouncing ellipses on our text thread, waiting for her next message.

Glad it’s over, I’ll say that much. What are you doing tonight/this weekend? Want to get together?

Bingo! Just the message I was hoping for. Or at least judging by my body’s reaction to reading her text, it’s what I was hoping for. The dumb part of my plan however was that it didn’t extend past that point. I knew I wanted her to reach out to me, and now that she had, I was torn about how to respond. Truthfully, I knew I wanted to accept her invitation. That wasn’t what I was confused about. The uncontrollable excitement and happiness I felt was throwing me off my normally cool game. How was I already so into this girl?

If I admitted to the non-virtuous side of myself, it was likely infatuation. The thrill of the hunt maybe. Since I hadn’t conquered this particular prey as of yet, there was a level of challenge to it all. That had always been what led me astray when I had a perfectly fine woman in my life. Another one would catch my eye, and off I’d wander.

I wasn’t a sleazy guy who cheated on women. I simply never committed in the first place. I kept my options open knowing damn well I’d get bored and start looking for the next great thing.

It was an awful pattern and definitely the fatal flaw in my life’s plot. I’d probably lost potential quality partners because of my fear of committing to one woman. My brother insisted that I just hadn’t foundthe oneyet. He assured me that when I did, the thrill of the hunt would evaporate.

Meeting some work buddies for a couple atm. Tomorrow?

The response bubble popped up and throbbed for a few seconds and then disappeared. I was inside the bar ordering my first round when I felt my phone vibrate against my thigh. Once I told the friendly guy behind the very busy bar what I wanted, I pulled my phone out to check her reply.

Sounds good. Just text or call, and we’ll set something up. Have fun tonight. XO

I’d like to say that was the last I thought of the woman for the rest of the night. I’d like to say the curvy redhead at the end of the bar didn’t give me her number along with a very detailed description of how she’d like to spend the evening. But both would be untrue.

I could’ve worked out the week’s frustrations between the sheets with that gorgeous siren, but instead, I drove home alone after a couple of hours. While the redhead was tempting, I couldn’t shake thoughts of a specific blond bombshell.

I stared at my phone when I crawled beneath the cool sheets debating if it was too late to send a message.

Just one couldn’t hurt, right? If she was already sleeping, she’d likely have the thing on do not disturb and would wake to my message and know I was thinking about her all night. If I were lucky and she was still awake, I could just say good night and be done with it.

But instead, I wrote three different messages and deleted them before settling on something that was simple and heartfelt.

Sleep well, gorgeous girl. I hope you dream of me.

Quickly I stabbed the Send button before I changed my mind again. I was putting way more thought into a damn text than necessary. I reread the message twice while no indication came through that she even saw it. So, with a heavy sigh, I tossed my phone onto the bed and turned on my side to get more comfortable.

Lying down gave my body permission to relax a bit, and the exhaustion of a trying week crept in. Just as I was drifting off, my phone’s screen lit up the room with a soft glow. Like a teenager, I scrambled to find the device within the covers and stared at the screen until my eyes adjusted enough to read her reply.

Thank you. You too. But of me, of course. I hope you had a good time tonight with your friends.

I could have left the conversation end there. It was a perfectly natural place to end things and get the sleep my body was begging for. But now an excitement swirled in the pit of my stomach, and then I actually scoffed into the dark room. Why the hell was I acting the way I was? Over a text message. And what was it about this girl that had my interest so peaked? None of it made sense, and the longer I lay there and tried to figure it out, the more wired I became.

Fuck it. I’d text her one more time and then sleep.

Yeah, it wasn’t bad. Kind of boring, though, so I left pretty early.

Oh, I’m sorry.

No, no need to be. I think I’m just tired. Normally I have a blast with the crew, but something was off tonight.

What do you mean?

I’m not sure. Two of the five of us are married, and one is in a serious relationship. In fact, he spent the whole night talking about his girlfriend and was scrolling IG for proposal ideas.

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