Page 21 of Heal Me
“I’m going to shave and Emily and Hayley are getting ready in my bathroom. I have to get on the road.” Tyler commuted almost every day to Horizon’s Denver office and he hated to be late. “You going to come to the meeting a little later?”
Through the miracle of modern technology, Ric and Chase attended daily board meetings via Skype, which Ric had continued doing from the Jeffries residence.
“Yeah. I’ll wait until your done shaving to start the water. I don’t need to scald mycajoneswhen you turn on the cold water in the sink.”
Tyler grinned, his gray eyes shining. “Damn. I was hoping to hear you scream like a little girl.”
“Shut the hell up and give me a towel so I can at least sit here without freezing my ass off while you make yourself beautiful,” Ric said.
Tyler arched a black eyebrow at him. “Would you prefer I dress like Chase?”
Ric laughed as Tyler handed him a towel. “You couldn’t pull off Bermuda shorts, shades, and muscle shirts like he does.”
Tyler lathered shaving cream on his face. “Yeah, and that’s dressing up for him. At least we broke him of wearing that damn speedo. I swear he’d walk around naked if it wasn’t illegal.”
“You’re right about that,” Ric agreed.
Thoughts of Kate filled his head as he waited for Tyler to finish shaving. What had gone wrong? He hadn’t wanted to pressure her about it, but now he was wondering if that hadn’t been a mistake. Even though he’d hoped that she would, Kate hadn’t called.
It shouldn’t bother him, but it did. Ric was used to one-night stands, but it was obvious that Kate wasn’t. After all, she’d been engaged, so she’d been in a committed relationship; something he’d never experienced. Had she just been feeling embarrassed because she wasn’t used to how those sorts of encounters ended?
He was yanked back to the present when Tyler snapped his fingers in front of him.
“Wake up. I’m talking to you.”
“Sorry. What?”
Tyler frowned. “What’s wrong with you? You’ve been off for a couple of days now. Distracted.”
Ric opened his mouth, but he didn’t know how to frame his question. Meeting his brother-in-law’s eyes, he also wondered if this would lead to an awkward conversation.
“What’s the matter?” Tyler prompted.
“Can I ask you something without you getting weird about it?”
Wiping shaving cream off his jaw with a towel, Tyler nodded. “Shoot.”
“Outside of Emily, have you ever had feelings for a woman? And, no, this isn’t me being protective of her. You’ve proven how sorry you are for what you did in the past,” Ric said.
Tyler smiled as he played with his wedding band. “Marrying your sister is the smartest thing I’ve ever done. I should’ve done it years ago, but I was too big of a dickhead. Anyway, the answer to your question is no. Sure, there’ve been some women I cared about a little bit, but I know that Emily is the only woman I’ll ever love. Why do you ask?”
“How did you know?”
Tyler’s smile was a trifle sad. “Because no matter how many miles were between us, I couldn’t get her out of my thoughts. She was in my heart too deep. God knows I tried everything I knew to stop loving her, but I couldn’t. It didn’t matter how many women I slept with, they weren’t the women I wanted to wake up to every morning or share my life with. Emily and I are meant to be; it’s as simple as that.”
Ric smiled. “I’m glad you wised up. Of course, the whipping I gave you probably knocked some sense into you.”
“I deserved it, which is why I didn’t fight back. So, you can’t really classify it as a beat-down. What’s this all about? Can it wait until tonight?”
“Yeah. Get going,” Ric said. “I better get my ass in gear, too. I’ll call Chase and make sure he’s up.”
“I’ll be surprised if he’s even been to bed,” Tyler remarked.
“Yeah. He certainly has a habit of enjoying life to the full,” Ric said.
“Yeah. Okay. I’ll see you at the meeting,” Tyler said.
When he’d gone, Ric turned on the water and began his shower.
