Page 34 of Forgotten

“We could share the bed,” I said. “If you snore, I’ll just kick you, like I did when we were kids.”

“Fine by me,” she said. “As long as I can elbow you for talking in your sleep.”

“As long as you write down what I say,” I said. “Did Luke come?’

“Yeah, he’s in Amber’s room. I get the impression he’s staying the night.”

“I would think so,” I said. “Come on. Let’s get to sleep. I have to be up early.”

“All right, all right.”

She followed me into the guest room, and we shut the door quietly. I took the right side of the bed, just like I had when we were little and slept on the same king-sized mattress. It didn’t take long after I plugged my phone into the little charger that Tamara had that I fell into a deep sleep.

When I woke up, there was a text waiting for me.

Tamara was already out of bed, but I got the impression that I’d probably woken up to the door shutting, so she hadn’t been awake long. Muffled low voices were speaking in the living room, and I thought I caught the cadence of Luke and Amber. I sat up, stretching, and then checked the blinking message on my phone.

It was from Graham.

You’ll need to leave Texas by ten PM. I’ll have the plane waiting for you in Dallas.

While it wasn’t a rude message, it did have that approach of a wealthy person who is used to giving orders. It was something I’d noticed about Graham but had filed away as normal for someone like him and excused the behavior. It was as if he expected the world to behave, and when it didn’t, he got a little cross. Not angry, per se, and never outright rude, but certainly grumpy when things didn’t go the way he wanted. Me not coming with him to Paris initially was one of those things, and he was making it clear he expected me to behave and take the plane he provided tonight.

I got out of bed, wondering what exactly I should do. I needed to talk to Tamara first, that was for sure, but I also owed it to Graham to tell him what was going on. Especially in person. Especially if he was thinking of doing what I had a suspicion he was going to do.

It didn’t make any sense, and yet, it might make perfect sense for him to propose. He was an older man who didn’t have timefor games. I was a pretty piece of arm candy he could depend on. Even if we didn’t have much of a real relationship, he probably assumed that a woman in her thirties was out of most of her options anyway and would be grateful for a union with someone of his stature.

He was probably right. Any other woman in my position might be elated to be in this situation. Yet, for me, it was a nightmare. I didn’t want to hurt him, not only because he didn’t deserve it, but also because he was technically one of my bosses. But there didn’t seem to be a way around it. If I texted him from here or called, it would be a wildly impersonal way of ending things. If I went with him to Paris, it would feel like I’d strung him along and used him for a free trip.

I didn’t know what to do. But before I could get to all that, first things first. I needed to talk to Tamara.

Tamara and Luke were in the kitchen, standing by the counter with coffee mugs in their hands. Tamara saw me and immediately grabbed a mug, filling it and bringing it to me black.

“Where’s Amber?” I asked.

“Getting ready for the day,” Luke said. “She’ll be out in a minute.”

“Ahh, all right. Hey, Tamara, do you mind if we go talk for a minute?”

“Sure,” she said. “You want a donut?”

“There’s donuts?”

“Wanda made them,” Luke said. “She makes the best donuts.”

Indeed, the little closed glass tray full of glazed donuts smelled amazing when Tamara opened it, and I took one of the gooey treats and headed for the door. There was a little bench out near the garden, so I headed that way as Tamara came outbehind me, bringing a couple of napkins and her own donut and coffee.

“What’s up?” she asked as she sat down beside me.

“I wanted to talk to you about last night,” I said. “About Jesse.”

“Ah, right,” she said. “Go on.”

I took a deep breath and started at the beginning, going over how Jesse had gone on a date with her, thought he would ghost her and then talked to me. How we kept it quiet because we wanted to give her time to move on from him and then before I could say anything, his ex, Lacey, ruined it all. How we’d reconnected in Oklahoma and then miscommunication made us lose touch again and how now that we’d reconnected, I didn’t know where things were going to go.

She took it quietly, taking sips of her coffee and staring out into the garden, occasionally dunking a piece of her donut into the light brown, sugary beverage and shoveling it into her mouth absentmindedly.

“Well, I can’t say I’m not disappointed,” she said finally, sighing heavily.

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