Page 10 of A Chance for Us
“Hey, did you get there?”
“I did. Were you sleeping?”
He groans a little. “No, just had a bad night.”
“Are you okay?”
“Never . . . better. I get to see you soon.”
I smile, wishing he were here already so I could see him. “I’m really excited to see you. It’s been too long.” Six months of Linda finding one reason or another to keep me away. She has nothing this time to use as an excuse.
“Are you there yet?”
“We are. We’re heading to the resort now.”
“Good. I’m glad you made it,” he says before yawning. “I can’t wait to meet Oliver.”
Nerves hit me a little. “I can’t either.”
“I’m going to rest. Have fun with Devney.”
“I will. I love you, Daddy.”
“Love you, Princess.”
We hang up, and my phone rings almost immediately afterward. I answer it, thinking he forgot to say something.
“You okay, Daddy?”
“Maren, hey. It’s me.”
I blink a few times and smile. It’s not my dad, it’s my fiancé. “Oliver, hey! You’re back in range.”
“Yeah, I got back yesterday.”
“Oh. I didn’t hear from you or know you were back.”
Devney peeks at me. I hit the mute button and tell her, “He got back yesterday and didn’t call.”
Even though I left him two voice messages. But . . . whatever.
I unmute the phone.
“Yeah, I was going to call, but I didn’t know what to say,” he explains and then exhales deeply. “I just . . . I’m not really sure there is a way to say it.”
The hesitancy in his voice causes my heart to pound and my mouth to go dry. “Say what?”
“Look, I have a lot of shit going on at work and . . . I don’t know, Mare, it’s like, we got engaged really fast and are getting married even faster.”
“You know why.”
“I know, and that’s not . . . I mean, I was away the last week and we didn’t even try to reach out to each other. Isn’t that strange?”
My lips part as my mind goes in circles. What the hell do I say to that? “We’ve never been that way.”
“And yet, all the other guys do. They call or send a message. You and I don’t, not unless it’s mission related.”
“I’m not understanding what you’re upset about. Do you want me to sit at home and cry when you’re gone? You didn’t text me or call me while you were gone either. I didn’t know this was an issue.”
