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Wear the hat, ride the cowboy.
My stomach clenches in knots and I’m about to go hide in the bathroom for a few minutes when one other motion catches my attention…
Maisy reaches out and takes Tommy’s hand in hers and leads him off towards the back door.
I think I’m going to throw up.
I can’t stay here. His ex who broke his heart wants him back. And he went with her.
How do I leave?
I have to leave a note so my absence is explained. My instinct to do things properly gives me some semblance of order in the well of emotions that’s threatening to erupt right here in front of all these people. I’m trembling as I open my purse, grab a pen and my little notebook scrawling “I’m so sorry, I got sick. - Sam” as fast as I can. I tear it out, fold it in half, and tuck it under the vase so it won’t somehow get blown away.
One final deep breath to gather my courage, I stand up tall, resolving to not sprint out of here, and walk out the front door with my head held high. Not one tear on my face.
Tommy
I storm past the bar, needing to see Samantha. Just being near her will calm me after that fucking bogus attempt at manipulating me again. Because Maisy Jones misses me.
Yeah right.
Her rodeo guy stopped bringing her on the circuit, she realized he was seeing other people, and now she wants another chance with the person she could walk all over.
She got exactly one minute. I’m sure I looked like the biggest dick ever pulling out my phone to set the time. But I agreed to give her one minute of my time so she’d give me back my hat and leave for the evening. Well, I didn’t specify the hat, I just hoped she wasn’t that much of an asshole to keep the one my dad gave me. I couldn’t handle the thought of her doing something to make Sam feel uncomfortable and she proved herself to be in an especially confident mood by starting things off by taking it and putting it on like she had any right to do so.
I sit down in my chair, my hands shaking. The table is empty and I can’t sit here just getting more and more worked up over this, so I stand up and walk briskly to the men’s room. No one seems to be in here so I let out a frustrated groan and splash water on my face. The cool water gives me a little shock and resets my lungs so I can finally take a deep breath.
Dabbing the water from my face with a paper towel, I close my eyes and picture Sam. Sam on a horse, Sam at a meeting, Sam tucked against me, Sam in the shower, Sam asleep next to me.
Just Sam.
Confident that I won’t be shaking now from how upset I am, I go back to our table, which is still empty. My mind runs through a worst-case scenario where Maisy approached Sam in the bathroom and said something to her that made her leave.
Except that would have happened in the last thirty seconds at the most because I spent that amount of time in the bathroom.
It’s fine. Everything’s fine.
Sam could be changing all of her makeup, painting her thumbnail if she bit it, or, you know, using the bathroom. I just need to sit down and chill out.
Easier said than done.
Chapter 55: Sam
Breathe.
Samantha Davies, you are going to breathe evenly, get those tears in check, and keep walking until you’re at Courtney’s door. Then, you’re going to knock and say you’re here to join girl’s night. You’re going to stay as long as Avery and get a ride home with her. It doesn’t matter if it’s in twenty minutes, or tomorrow morning.
You can cry your heart out when you’re back at the apartment. Right now, that’s too far to walk to in the off chance Tommy sees the note anytime soon because even if Maisy’s in the truck, he’s too much of a gentleman to let me walk home.
Oh the nausea’s back. I pause and press my hand against a tree in someone’s yard, steadying myself. My eyes squeeze shut, trying to stop the onslaught of tears threatening to come out at any moment.
What if he’s on his way to the truck right now, with her, and he hasn’t even noticed I’m gone?
I mentally chide myself because that’s unfair. Tommy wouldn’t leave me to fend for myself. Even if I was just a placeholder.
My feet continue forward and soon I’m on Courtney’s block. Oh my goodness, how did I misread everything so poorly? I try to think back to any conversation regarding past relationships. Did we explicitly talk about Maisy? Or has he been avoiding anything specific to her because he’s been in love with her but couldn’t have her? Or did he think he was over her and was trying to move on?
What if he tries to call me? The thought leaps out of the jumbled mess in my brain.
