Chloe's Secret (16 page)

Chapter 25

I expected him to be gone when I woke and I was right. He had left the key to Dad’s motorcycle on the counter with a note.

Lucky Bird,

Do you believe that things happen for a reason, even the bad ones?

Come see me if you get a chance.

Colton

P.S. You’re cute when you sleep.

I smiled, then I did something I had never done in my life—called in sick for work. I wasn’t up to seeing Mr. Conners yet. I logged onto my laptop and submitted a few applications to some of the jobs that seemed good. Then I felt guilty so I spent a couple hours on a few work projects before I grabbed the key from the counter and took Dad’s bike to the vet clinic.

I couldn’t bring myself to go in though. I told myself he was busy and it could wait. So, I leaned on the handlebars for a bit. He came out after nearly thirty minutes, carrying a dog behind a pretty young blonde. He seated the dog in the backseat of the girl’s car and closed the door. They spoke for a second, then he waved and she left. I was too chicken to go over. I didn’t know what I had thought would happen, maybe something really romantic and monumental. I had hoped he’d say or do something that made me know that missing work, blowing off the rest of my life for this day with him was the right thing to do.

He didn’t. He watched the car leave, then pulled his cell phone from his pocket and started texting someone.

Badeep deep
, my phone beeped. I read the message. “Are you going to sit over there forever or come kiss me?” the display taunted.

He stood there grinning, hands in pockets. Then he started toward me. I guessed that was my big moment, the one I was waiting for. I stood and met him halfway.

“You left work?”

“I skipped.”

“For me?”

“Na, for me actually—and you. I had no desire to face my boss and you asked me to be here.”

He palmed both sides of my face and pulled me into him. Then he kissed me hard, and wet. A kiss full of longing, need, and him.

“Lucky Bird, I thought of something last night when that dog died and I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t.”

“Yeah, what’s that?”

“I had been so angry at my parents’ weak attempts at a relationship that I was afraid to consider it myself. Ironically, when I decided
not
to have a relationship, I found one anyway. “With Grams. The horses,” he waved a hand at the clinic, “the animals and my work. And then you.”

“This isn’t a relationship, Colton.”

“Not yet.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying I want to have a relationship with you. I want to love you.”

“Is there a ‘but’ coming next?”

“But the funny thing is, when I
didn’t
want to love you—it happened anyway.”

He slipped his arms into my back pockets and hugged the breath out of me. I choked, my eyes stung. “I don’t know what to say.”

He smiled. “Say whatever you want to. Just because I said it, you don’t have to.”

He was right; I didn’t have to. He wasn’t asking anything of me.

“That’s the problem, see . . .  I have already lied to you more than I wanted. I lied about your grandmother, and hated it. I have always been so blatantly honest that it comes off blunt sometimes. If I don’t say what I think and feel right now, I’d be misleading both of us.”

He pulled his hands away and began to step back, but I wasn’t letting him go far. All the anger that had brewed inside me for so long left my body in a whoosh. I almost heard it flit away as if the wind took hold. I didn’t care about the job, my boss, or even my mom. I knew I’d handle all that just fine. My life
wasn’t
messed up. It was perfect and I had to tell him.

“I want to love you too.”