Mom: Tanner knows Presley left. The front desk told him she checked out. I think he might be heading back to South Carolina.
CHAPTER 33
* * *
Presley
Last night after Shelby and I talked, I’d booked a flight home and turned off my phone. Then when I got up this morning, I’d realized that while I’d plugged the cord into my phone, I hadn’t actually plugged the other end into the wall socket. So my cell was dead, and my flight had been so early that I didn’t have time to deal with it. Luckily, my plane had been a newer one, and there were outlets at each seat for me to charge it, even if I couldn’t turn it on during the flight.
The minute I got off the plane and turned on my phone, messages started pouring in. All from Tanner. I knew before I read the first one that it wasn’t going to be good news. I needed to take a minute to see what had caused the influx of messages, but my gut told me to do it in private. So I stopped Alex as we passed a restroom just outside our gate.
“Honey, I need to run to the bathroom. Could you wait right out here for a minute?”
“Okay.”
I wagged my finger at him. “Don’t wander off.”
He rolled his eyes. “Yes, Mom.”
Once I was alone in the ladies’ room, I took a deep breath and opened the text chain.
Tanner: WHORE
Oh God. My heart started to race as I scrolled down to read the rest of them.
Tanner: How could you?
Tanner: My brother?
Tanner: My fucking brother?
Tanner: Where the hell are you?
Tanner: Were you that desperate to get laid?
Tanner: He’s using you, you know.
Tanner: He’s always wanted anything I had. It’s all a game to him.
Tears welled in my eyes.
Tanner: I hope you aren’t fooling yourself thinking you were anything special. He’s got a girl in every city.
The texts went on and on. They seemed to jump back and forth between angry and sad. Some were both:
Tanner: I’ve loved you since the eighth grade. How THE FUCK can you do this to us?
But the last text freaked me out the most.
Tanner: I’m coming to find you.
Tears streamed down my face. God, how did he even find out? And what the heck do I do now? I wanted to curl into a ball, but my son was waiting outside alone. So I splashed some water on my face in an attempt to compose myself so I wouldn’t worry Alex. But I was so rattled that even the sound of my own phone ringing scared the crap out of me. I jumped and bobbled it in my hands. I couldn’t get a good grip on the damn thing. It wound up smacking against the side of the sink before hitting the floor with a loud clank.
Shit.
When I bent and picked it up, the screen had shattered. Worse, it would no longer turn on. I sighed. While I was upset, maybe a broken phone was the best thing for me right now. My eight-year-old son was standing outside, and I needed to get us home without falling apart. So I took a few deep breaths, smoothed down my blouse, and went back out into the airport.
Luckily, Alex was too busy playing a game on his iPad to even notice my red nose. “Come on, honey. Let’s go home.”
***
Hours later, I was back at The Palm Inn and unpacked, but still very much on edge. I’d used the house phone to call Levi and Shelby, but both went straight to voicemail. They were probably together at Jim’s jersey-retirement ceremony, where I hoped Tanner was, too. But his last text kept playing over and over in my head. I’m coming to find you. Every time a guest walked in or out, I practically jumped through my skin. I kept expecting it to be Tanner.
When Alex asked if he could go over to a friend’s, I was relieved to get him somewhere else. It was a nice day, and Kyle only lived a few blocks away, so I decided to walk him over. I hoped maybe some fresh air and a little exercise would do me good. On the way back, I took a detour and walked through a local park, dreading the thought of what might be waiting for me at home. Tanner had left his car at the airport, so if he was back, that would be my warning sign. I held my breath as I turned the last corner, not breathing until I checked out every car parked on the block. Thankfully, his wasn’t there.
Once I arrived back at the house, I didn’t feel like going inside. We had a full inn again this weekend, and people were milling around. So I sat down on the porch swing to figure out how I would handle things once Tanner inevitably showed up.
I didn’t find any answers, but eventually my thoughts were interrupted when a couple walked out of the house.
They noticed me and stopped. “Oh, hi. Would you be able to tell us how to get to Coyle’s Ice Cream Parlor?”
I smiled half-heartedly and pointed down the block. “Sure. You take a left at the corner, go about two blocks, and then make a right on Main Street. You can’t miss it.”
“Great, thank you.”
They walked down the porch steps arm in arm, and then the guy turned back. “Hey, if you’re a football fan, there’s a pretty famous quarterback inside.” The woman smiled and pulled on her T-shirt. “He was very nice. I got him to sign my shirt.”
My first thought was Oh God, Tanner is here. But then I realized the couple was in their early twenties. They would have been teenagers when Tanner played his one season. I couldn’t imagine they would know him, or if they did, consider him famous. So I leaned forward on the swing to see the woman’s shirt. The signature was pretty much scribble, but the first letter looked a hell of a lot like an L, not a T.
My heart sped up. “What’s his name? The quarterback.”
“Miller.”
“Do you know his first name?”
“Levi.”
“Levi? Are you sure? Are you certain it wasn’t his brother?”
The guy smiled. “Positive. I’m a huge Broncos fan.”
My eyes widened. I’d been sitting on one of my feet, so I practically fell on my face as I leaped from the swing and ran toward the door. Ripping it open, my heart stopped when I found Levi standing on the other side.
“What—what are you doing here?”
He looked over my shoulder. Apparently we had an audience. The young couple I’d completely forgotten about already was eagerly watching us. Levi gestured down the hall.
“Can we talk in your room?”
His face was stoic, so I tried not to get overly excited that he was here. He probably knew Tanner had found out and felt obligated to come try to fix things.
I nodded. “Sure.”
I followed him away from all the prying eyes. He opened my bedroom door for me to walk in first, and then closed it behind us.
“What’s going on?” I said. “What are you doing here?”
He swallowed. “Tanner knows about us.”
“I know. He sent me a bunch of texts. How did he find out?”
Levi raked a hand through his hair. “I guess he’s suspected something was going on for a while. We got into an argument last night after I saw you, and when he called me out on it, he read it on my face. I couldn’t deny the truth, but I’m sorry it came out the way it did. I’m sure he’s been harassing you.”