Graham looked out over the bar. His eyes went to Bowie and Brooklyn, in love and happy after all these years apart. It was what he wanted, and he wanted it with Rennie. “We’ll talk, and we’ll make the best decision for us,” he told her. “The bar is filling up. I’ll text you, and don’t feel like you can’t text me back because you think I’m busy. I’ll always have time for you, Ren.” He wanted to end the call by telling her he was falling in love with her but wanted to give them more time to grow. Instead, he said goodbye and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He pressed the app for his contacts and went right to his favorites. She was there, the first on his list. He changed her number and sent her a message. Almost instantly, the message bubbles appeared, and when her words showed on his screen, he was grinning from ear to ear. Thank you for the most amazing couple of days. I can’t wait to see you on Friday!
Graham smiled at the message. Amazing didn’t even begin to cover how he felt about the minivacation and Rennie. What started out as an escape for her turned into a life-changing experience for him. They were finally going to give this couple thing a shot.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Luck was on Rennie’s side when she pulled onto her street. There was a parking spot available not far from her front stoop. She parallel parked effortlessly, a skill she had mastered from living in the city for so many years; turned her car off; and grabbed her suitcase from the back seat. When she approached her front steps, she fully expected to find Theo there or a note, something he would’ve left behind to tell her he stopped by. Thankfully, there was nothing. She unlocked her door and, as she did, made a mental note to call the locksmith tomorrow to have her locks changed. She didn’t want Theo coming into her apartment, with or without her being there.
Rennie turned on the lights as she entered her place. She called out, “I’m home,” even though she lived alone. It was something her father told her to always do when she entered her house.
“Crap,” she said aloud. In her haste to throw her phone overboard, she’d forgotten about her parents. She rushed down the hall to her room, pulled her laptop from her bag, and booted it up. While she waited, she started to unpack. As soon as the zipper exposed the contents of her bag, she picked up Graham’s sweatshirt and held it to her nose. She missed him already and had a feeling her week was going to drag on until she could see him again. She unpacked and sent an email to her parents asking about their trip and telling them what she did over New Year’s. She also told them she broke things off with Theo, but not why, and how she planned to spend more time in Cape Harbor, figuring it was enough of a hint that her mother would get the underlying message, and closed her email with her new number. She thought about calling her parents but was a horrible daughter and couldn’t remember where in the world they were at the moment and wasn’t sure her mom would respond to an unknown number, regardless of what Rennie typed out.
After her shower, she sent a message to Graham’s phone. I’m home and going to bed. You can text though because I’ll be reading for a bit.
Graham texted her right back. I’m jealous of your bed and book.
Don’t be. Inanimate objects have nothing on you.
Graham didn’t respond right away, which she was okay with. He had a bar to run, and she wanted him to focus on his job and not her. Their time would come when she was in Cape Harbor over the weekend.
When she finally turned her light off, she stared at the darkened ceiling. She couldn’t fall asleep and wasn’t keen on taking a sleep aid, other than drinking a cup of tea. At some point in the middle of the night, she got up and searched for the sweatshirt she had taken from Graham. She had made him put it back on when they were at his house because she wanted it to smell like him again. The scent of Old Spice welcomed her as soon as she laid her head on the shirt. She thought she would feel his presence, but all it did was make her miss him and miss the weekend they’d shared. She closed her eyes and imagined Graham lying next to her. Surely this would help her fall asleep.
Except her thoughts drifted to Theo, which didn’t make sense to her. By all accounts, she should be heartbroken over Theo. She wasn’t. She was relieved and felt as if she had dodged a bullet, and she was angry. Brooklyn told her the anger would turn to loss and hatred, and at any given moment, Rennie could break down and cry because she missed Theo. Rennie refused to believe her. There was no way a strong, independent woman like herself would cry over the loss of someone who lied and cheated. But she had, and Graham had been there to hold her.
Questions lingered in the back of her mind as to why Theo would do something so deplorable to his wife and her. To tell someone you loved them, to buy them gifts, to take them on work trips, only to live a lie with them made no sense to her. What did Theo expect to happen? Was he going to break up with Rennie? His wife? Was he ever going to come clean to either of them or just lead a double life? What would he have done if Rennie had agreed to move to Spokane? To get those answers, she’d have to communicate with him, and she had no desire to do so, but in order to move on and close this chapter in her life, she would need closure.
And then there was Graham. Her Graham Cracker. The only boy turned man who ever treated her as his equal. To know Graham was to love him. But she never told him how she truly felt, and he had chosen another. That was on her and was something she planned to rectify in the coming months. Sure, in college, she didn’t want to be in a committed relationship but thought they would end up together. When he told her he started dating someone, she expected it to last a week—a month at best. That was how long girls stayed around, because they all thought Rennie was a threat to their relationship. When Monica didn’t leave, Rennie knew her chance with Graham had gone by the wayside, and it was her fault. In high school, college, and now, Graham Chamberlain was a catch.
And she had finally caught him.
As she lay in bed, she thought about what she would say to Theo when she inevitably saw him. His appearance in her office or at her front door wouldn’t be a matter of if, but when. He had gone to the inn and made a spectacle of himself, demanding to see her. Even if she had holed up at the inn, Bowie would’ve never let Theo in. Bowie protected Rennie at all costs because it was what Brooklyn would want. Same with Graham, which was why she called him in the first place. She knew he would drop everything for her and do whatever he could to keep her safe and happy, and he had.
Rennie dreaded what the morning would bring. Thanks to her utter stupidity of throwing her phone in the bay, she had no idea what she was walking into at work. She left for vacation early and avoided every call and email. She had needed time to think and feared that if her phone was within reach, she’d look to see what Theo had to say or listen to his voice mails. Graham had been right. She should’ve just blocked his number.
Rennie had a mediation meeting in the morning with Mrs. Soto and her lazy ex-husband, which Rennie suspected was not going to go very well for the ex with Rennie’s frame of mind. She also needed to touch base with Walter in regard to the snoop job she gave him. She wanted to work with Jefferson and find a quick resolution to whatever Donna had up her sleeve regarding Graham. The case was more than personal now, and she needed to make sure it was handled as professionally as possible.