Winter left early this morning to head north and meet King for the road trip they’re taking this week. He kissed me goodbye at around 5:00 a.m., guilt still clear in his voice even though I’ve told him not to feel that. It’s not like he wanted to leave me at this time; he had no choice in the matter.
“Not yet. I just left him a voicemail. Hopefully he’ll call soon. I’m ready to burst with this news.”
“I bet you are,” she says. “Okay, I’ll let you go because I know you have a huge day at work today. I just couldn’t wait another second to find out how it all went.”
“Love you, Lil. I’ll keep you updated.”
After we end the call, I make my way upstairs to work. Andrea greets me at the front desk. “Hi, Birdie.”
“Hey.” I glance around at the empty waiting area. “How’s the morning going?” It’s just after 10:00 a.m. and super quiet for this time of day.
“We’ve had a few clients reschedule for this afternoon, and your class at eleven is now full. Also, I’ve played around with the roster for the next month and have managed to remove a heap of classes from your schedule. I know you weren’t worried about having to run those classes, but I thought I’d see what I could come up with to give you an idea.”
My smile for her is huge. Andrea has been a godsend for me and, in a short time, has found ways to give me some breathing space at work. “I really appreciate that.”
“I put a copy on your desk to look at.”
“Thank you. I’ll go take a look now.”
I leave her and head to my office, eager to see what she’s come up with. I’m trying to find someone to replace Juanita, but not having a lot of success. If Andrea’s suggested roster is workable, it’ll take a load off my mind.
I’ve just sat at my desk when my phone rings and I’m excited to see Winter’s name on the screen. Answering the call, my belly flutters when his face appears. It amazes me that this still happens after all these years.
“You got my voicemail?” I say, wishing I could reach out and touch him. My eyes greedily trace the angles of his face, taking in features and lines that I committed to memory a long time ago. God, he’s only been gone five hours and I miss him so much already.
“Yeah.” He smiles. “Tell me the good news, angel.”
I lean back in my chair, relaxed thanks to my visit to the clinic and this call. I give him a blow-by-blow of everything that happened and then say, “I’m starting the next lot of injections tonight.”
“At the usual time?”
“Yeah.”
“Call me while you do it.”
“You’re busy with King. I’ve got this.”
His features turn serious. “I mean it, Birdie. Call me. I wanna do this with you.”
“Okay, I will.”
He glances at something in front of him and then comes back to me. “I’ve gotta go. I’ll be waiting for your call tonight.”
I put my fingers to my lips and kiss them before pressing it to the phone screen. “Love you.”
“I love you, too.”
With that, he’s gone, and I feel all kinds of happy. He might be gone for the week, but I know he’s thinking of me throughout his days. I feel loved, and that’s all anyone needs to get through hard moments.
It’s been a long day by the time I call Winter that night. I got through a stack of admin work this afternoon, which was good, but I’ve had a pounding headache since lunchtime, so that wasn’t fun to deal with. The Advil I’ve taken is helping but not completely easing it. I try to push the pain to the side during our call, because I just want to enjoy the time we have to talk.
Winter seems on edge, though, when he answers the call. Not with me, but with whatever he’s got going on with King. He doesn’t say anything, but I can tell. This is how he comes home from his days sometimes—tense and somewhat detached. I can also see the exhaustion lining his face, and it worries me. This whole trip worries me, but I’m trying not to think about that.
“How are you?” I ask.
He scrubs a hand over his face. “Tired. You?”
Winter can be a man of few words when it comes to questions about him. It frustrates me a little because I’m looking for a whole lot more than that simple one-word answer. I don’t say anything, though. I let it go and hope he’ll share more as the conversation progresses. “I’ve had a headache all afternoon, but besides that, I’m good. Excited.” I eye the motel room he’s sitting in. “What are you guys doing tonight?”
He leans back against the chair. “Fucking nothing. I’m gonna watch some TV and pass out with any luck.”
“Did you get everything done today that you needed?”
“Yeah.” The image on my screen wobbles as he shifts in the chair and then he comes back into view. “You ready to do this shot?”
I rest the phone on the coffee table next to the chair I’m in, angling it so he can see me, and grab the needle. “Tell me something else about your childhood that I don’t know.”
We’ve started doing this while he administers my injections. Winter was trying to take my mind off it one night and came out with this random fact about his childhood that I didn’t know. I loved learning stuff about him so much that I’ve asked him different things about his life each night since.
He thinks about that for a moment. “Max was always the one getting into trouble growing up. Mum used to take to him with the wooden spoon far more often than she did to me.”
The needle stings as it goes through my skin. I force myself to concentrate on what Winter’s saying and do my best to ignore the sensation. “That surprises me. I would have picked you for the one always getting in trouble.”
He chuckles, and the sound spreads warmth through me. He’s no longer as tense as when he first came on the call. “Yeah, I knew you would have. Max grew out of his bad-boy ways by the time you met him.”
“What was the worst thing you ever got in trouble over?”
“Fuck, the list is long.”
“Oh, I can imagine, but what was the worst thing on it?”
He contemplates that. “It wasn’t the worst thing, but it was the thing I always regretted the most. When I was twelve, I had a crush on the girl next door. Liddy James. Fuck, I was gone on her and she never looked at me. I tried all the things I could think of to get her attention, and still she gave me nothing. One day, in desperation, I came up with a plan I thought was the plan of all plans. I would put chewing gum in her hair and then help her get it out. She would fall in love with me for life once I saved her hair.”
“Oh God, Winter. You didn’t.”
“I did. How the fuck was I to know the only way to get chewing gum out of hair is to cut it? Liddy never forgave me, and Mum grounded me for weeks. Worst fucking plan of my life. Mostly though, I regretted it every day I saw Liddy looking devastated because she had a boy haircut after that. Her hair was down to her ass before I put gum in it. Her mother got it all cut off because she hated dealing with her hair and this was the last straw as far as she was concerned.”
“That’s awful. I hope our daughter doesn’t meet a boy like you.”