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I backed up and drove the short distance to the far end of the motel. I grabbed both our bags from behind the seat before opening the driver’s door and rushing up to the room.
I heard Cheyenne let out a short scream behind me and turned to see her rushing to get under the awning.
“Are you okay?” I squinted through the water dripping down my face.
“Yeah, just go!” She motioned toward the room door.
I pushed the key into the door and opened it. Once we were inside, I looked around and was shocked at just how clean and nice everything looked. This could easily be a room at a Marriot. Maybe this place deserved a four and a half star rating after all.
After I set the luggage down, I turned and saw that Cheyenne was still standing by the door and it looked like she was trying to take her shoes off. And she was covered in muddy water.
“What happened?”
“As soon as I got out of the truck a semi drove by and splashed me. I need to take a shower, but I don’t want to get dirty water on the carpet.”
Without thinking about it I scooped her up and carried her into the bathroom. When I turned the light on, I was glad to see that the bathroom matched the room and not the lobby. There weren’t marble countertops, but everything looked and smelled clean.
I set her down and she gazed up at me with a strange expression on her mud-streaked face.
“What?”
“I just had a feeling of déjà vu. I had this flash of you carrying me into my house.”
I grinned down at her. “I did. After the wedding.”
Her eyes widened and her cheeks turned an even ruddier shade of red than they’d been from the cold. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you about that night.”
So have I. “I’ve wanted to talk to you too.”
“Can we?” She swallowed loudly, practically gulping. “After my shower?”
I nodded as my heart pounded wildly. “I’ll get your bag.”
I walked back and retrieved her overnight bag, set it inside the bathroom, and shut the door. I stood there for a moment, feeling at loose ends when I heard music begin to play.
At first, I thought that Cheyenne had started playing it on her phone or something, but then I realized it was coming from the room next door. I didn’t immediately recognize the song from the opening chords, but as soon as the first line of lyrics were sung, I knew what it was “Afternoon Delight” by the Starland Vocal Band. It was a karaoke favorite at Southern Comfort.
By the time the chorus came around I’d finished changing into dry clothes, which was a pair of sweats and a T-shirt and was standing in front of the window watching the storm raging outside. It was nothing compared to the storm raging inside of me. Whatever had been brewing in our relationship was about to come to fruition. I felt it in my bones.
I had no clue how the conversation was going to go, but I was going to bring up what she’d said to me the night of the wedding. I had so many questions that I wanted to ask her and was deciding what I would ask her first when the song stopped playing and then within seconds started again.
As the lead singer crooned about grabbing his baby and holding her tight, I was wondering if I’d be able to do the same thing.
There’d always been obstacles in mine and Cheyenne’s relationship. First, it was Billy. Then it was not knowing if my father and Sabrina had an affair that Cheyenne was the product of. Somehow finding out that the latter was not the case had made the former not seem like much of an obstacle at all. It made it seem downright insignificant.
I loved Billy like a brother. I owed him. But I also loved Cheyenne. That could not be any clearer after spending the past four days with her. Watching Cheyenne with my mom and Mitch and Mitch’s family had somehow made me feel like I belonged there as well. Which made no sense but that was how I felt. They never felt like my family until I was there with her.
I still didn’t feel worthy of being with her but my conversation with Ray kept coming back to me. Was it really for me to decide what she deserved? I’d never do anything to hurt her. I only wanted to love her, to be with her, to marry and have a family with her.
I’d been so scared for so many years that I’d end up being like my dad if I had a family. But now I knew that he had been living a lie. Which is exactly what I’d been living.
The song once again came to an end, and I was glad for the silence. Well, not silence but at least just the wind and rain from outside. It was sort of like white noise and it was somehow comforting. But I didn’t have much time to enjoy it because the now familiar first chords began playing again.
They were listening to it on repeat. Great. The ’70s hit wasn’t exactly the soundtrack I wanted playing for one of, if not the most important conversation I’d ever had in my life.
A deep groan vibrated from my chest as I lifted my arms and ran my fingers through my hair.
Behind me, I heard the creak of the bathroom door opening and I turned to see Cheyenne standing in an oversized white T-shirt.
