Travis
I press the connect button on the middle screen. "Hello.” Shelby’s voice fills the car.
"Hey," I answer, looking around at the green trees as I drive down the road. "What’s up?”
"Just checking in," she says, and I can imagine that she just spoke to my mother. Who is the only one who knows where I’m going right now. I can also hear that she’s rushing somewhere, and knowing that she is probably at a wedding, this conversation is going to be quick.
"Checking in?" I chuckle. "Or calling to get the scoop?"
She gasps, "Can’t a big sister call and check on her baby brother?" I can’t help but laugh loud.
"Smooth. But I’m just getting to Harlow’s house," I say, turning onto the street and my heart starts to beat faster and faster as I get closer to her house. "And I haven’t seen her in a while, so..."
"So, you are going to bang her on the porch." She roars out a laugh. "You’ll last maybe five seconds."
"Goodbye," I say and then she cuts in right away.
"Good luck," she says, and I disconnect when I pull into the driveway and see that her car is there parked in the middle.
It’s been a week since she’s had a little breakdown, and I’m not going to lie, she’s been more quiet than normal. It’s almost as if she is pulling away from me, and every single day, I got itchier and itchier to say my plans.
Getting out of the car, I listen to the sound of calmness and smile when I look up at the house, knowing she’s right in there. I jog up the steps to the front door and I have to laugh at myself when I see my hand shaking when I ring the doorbell. The last time I spoke to her she was just getting home and she was rushing to get off the phone.
I put my hands in my pockets as I wait for her to answer the door. I feel as nervous as I did on our first date. Even though we were talking way before we even went on that first date, I just knew what a big deal it was. I also didn’t want to fuck anything up.
My heart speeds up even faster, my hands get really clammy, my knees are starting to shake, and now the nerves have moved from my stomach to the back of my neck. I reach out again to ring the bell and the sudden dread fills me. Maybe I should have told her I was coming. Maybe I should have told her my plans instead of just surprising her. All the maybes and the doubts run rampant through me. "Coming." I hear her voice and I don’t have any time to prepare when the door swings open and she stands there. Everything that I was thinking before is suddenly gone with one look at her. She’s wearing navy-blue loose shorts with a matching V-neck shirt. "Oh my gosh." Is the only thing she says before she jumps into my arms. "Oh my goodness." She wraps her arms and legs around me and buries her face in my neck. "Is this for real?"
I laugh as I step into her house and shut the door with my foot. "It’s for real," I assure her, laughing, and she unburies her head from my neck. Her green eyes light up when she puts her hand on my cheek and leans in to kiss my lips softly.
I take a couple of steps into the house. "Why is it you’re always carrying me?" She laughs and my heart skips a beat.
"I’ll carry you every single day," I say and she tilts her head to the side. "I missed you." My arms squeeze around her waist even more, pulling her to me and it’s my turn to bury my face in her neck.
"How long can you stay?" she asks softly as her hands go into the back of my hair.
"All weekend," I say, figuring I am going to start off slow.
She gasps, and I remove my face from her neck. "Like, all weekend. Like, sleeping and waking up?"
"Yup." I smile and look around, seeing the boxes scattered all over the place. "What is all this?" I look at her and see that her eyes avoid me. "Are you moving?"
She slips her legs off my waist and slides down off me. "I think we should talk," she says and all the nerves I had before have come back. She slips her hand in mine as she pulls me to the couch with her. I’m trying not to panic at this moment, but everything is screaming at me that I should have spoken to her about my plans.
She slides onto the couch and tucks her legs under her and I sit next to her. "I think we definitely need to talk," my mouth says before my brain can catch up. I had this whole speech planned, the benefit from driving six hours is you have a lot of time to think. I look and see that there are more boxes. My heart feels like it’s hammering in the middle of my chest. "Umm," is all I can say when I close my eyes and try to find the words that are clustered all around my head.
"Travis," she says and starts to say something else but I hold up my hand.
"I really need to get this out," I start, turning to look at her. I push the hair away from her face, needing to touch her. "The last week I’ve been going through all these things in my head." She smiles at me.
"I have also." She reaches out with her hand to hold mine. Her fingers link with mine and all I can think is that I want to hold her hand in mine forever.
"Actually, it’s been longer than just last week." I swallow. "But when you called last week and another weekend of plans were shot, I knew that something had to give." I pick up her hand that is linked with mine and bring it to my lips, kissing her fingers. "So I made the decision that I’m moving here," I say, finally letting it out and she looks at me shocked. "I know that it may come as a shock to you, but after I looked at everything." A tear escapes her eye. "The bottom line is that I can’t live without being near you so..." I smile as another tear spills out. "I spoke to my partners and they are going to buy me out."
"You can’t do that," she says, getting up and my whole body goes solid like a rock. The happiness that I had two seconds ago turns to ice-cold feelings.
I turn to face her as she stands in front of me. "What do you mean I can’t do that?" My stomach sinks thinking that maybe she doesn’t want me to do this. Maybe she is over this and just thinking about that I’m going to be sick.
"I mean that you can’t do that," she repeats and rubs the tear off her own cheek. "You can’t do that because I’m moving."
"Well, I see that." I try to swallow but the lump in my throat grows bigger and bigger.
"No, you don’t." She laughs and puts her hands to her mouth. "You can’t move here because I’m moving to you."
"What?" I ask her and it’s my turn to be shocked.
"That’s what all the boxes are for." She holds her hands to the sides of her. "I’m selling my practice."
I shake my head, not sure I’m actually hearing the words that she is saying. "I’m sorry," I say, laughing at us and this whole situation.
"Well, let me see if I can explain it better." Her whole face lights up with a smile and if I didn’t love her before with everything I had, this moment right here would be where it would happen. "Actually, this decision was made four years ago," she says and if I wasn’t sitting down to begin with, this news would knock me on my ass. I hold up my hand and she holds up her own. "Let me talk, please." She waits and makes sure that I’m not going to say anything else. "Four years ago, I was going to tell you that I was going to take a job at the emergency clinic with you." My brain feels like it’s going to explode in my head, and my mouth hangs open. "Yeah," she says. "I had decided that I was going to stay with you."
"But," I start to say as the pieces come together. The clinic telling me that they were short-staffed because someone who was going to take the job decided not to. I never even put two and two together.
"But you broke up with me," she says, shrugging. "And my plans changed, so I came home."
"Why didn’t you say anything to me?" I get up. "You never even told me."
"I was waiting until you brought it up." She takes a deep breath. "I didn’t want to just assume that you would want me with you, so I was waiting until you asked me." Her voice goes low. "And then you broke up with me, so there was no point in that."
The only thing I can say is. "But."