When I'm Gone (Rosemary Beach #11)(17)

Smiling, I reached out and touched her hair. I had been fighting the urge since I’d walked in and seen that it was down. Just as I’d imagined, it was silky. “You broke my sister’s mirror, and I don’t much care for Nan. Besides, she can afford to replace it. You never bled on me, just the floor, and I’ve cleaned up that mess. It’s long gone. As for your singing, yes, it’s horrible. But there’s something about you, Reese, that makes me want to ease that lost look in your eyes.”

She went very still in my arms, then loosened her hold on me and pulled back to look at me before she unlatched herself from around my neck and moved away, but only by a few inches. A grin tugged at her lips. “My singing is horrible, isn’t it?” Then she laughed. “God, I was so embarrassed when I turned around and saw you standing there.” She shook her head. “I can cook better than I sing. I promise. Can I make you dinner tonight? I want to do something for you.”

Never had I been upset about getting new horses to board. I liked money, and I needed horses to keep the ranch running. But damned if I wasn’t resenting them right about now. “I have to go,” I told her.

The light in her eyes dimmed but only for a moment. “That’s right. You have to get back to Texas. I forgot.”

I nodded. “I have to get to the airport right away.”

I stood up, and she backed away, giving us more space. I didn’t want her to back up. She took that cinnamon and sugar smell with her.

“Dr. Munroe has your number, but here is his contact information. Call him. He’s expecting you to call him. He will only call you if you don’t.”

She took the paper in my hand and nodded. “I will. Today,” she replied.

“Good.” I needed to leave, but here I stood, staring at her.

“Thank you, again. Really. I may say this a million more times.” Her eyes were bright with new unshed tears.

“You don’t have to do that. But I’d like for you to call me after your meeting with him. I will be curious about how things go. Keep me updated.”

She beamed at me. “Yes. I can do that.”

With one last look at her, I headed for the door. I had to get out of here before I reached out and pulled that shiny hair back over to me so I could smell her cinnamon scent and get tangled in all those silky locks.

“Be careful,” she called out to me.

I opened her door, then glanced back at her and winked. “Always.”

Reese

My double date had to be postponed. We had set it for Thursday, but Thursday was the first evening that I could meet with Dr. Munroe. I thought about calling Mase and telling him that I had called the professor and set up my first meeting, but he had said to call him after my meeting. I didn’t want to bug him.

So instead, I stared at the photo of his boots a lot on my phone.

I had a crush on Mase Manning. It wasn’t my first crush. I’d had a couple in high school, but I soon found out that those guys were flirting with me only when no one was around. When they saw me in the halls, they ignored me. I was invisible to them unless they got me alone. Those crushes died quickly, and I stopped paying attention to cute guys. My senior year, the captain of the cheerleading squad caught her boyfriend cornering me outside and got furious. He never spoke to me again, which was a relief, but then, shortly afterward, the entire school was talking about me being a lesbian.

I didn’t figure that was a bad thing. I wasn’t into girls. Especially the mean vipers I went to school with, but I sure wasn’t into any of the guys there, either. So I let them call me names, and I ignored them. Eventually, they moved on to someone else who responded to their cruelty.

Needless to say, it had been a while since I had actually had a real, honest-to-God crush on a guy. My stepfather had made sure that I kept men away at a football field’s length. I cringed thinking of the man who had taken my innocence and tainted me for life.

Shoving all thoughts concerning Mase aside, I went to take a shower. Memories of how my stepfather always sent me to scrub my body clean under the hottest water I could stand popped into my head, but at least I no longer threw up when I thought of him. I was getting distance from my terrible past. I was improving.

Wednesday evening, my phone rang just as I pulled the lasagna I’d made out of the oven. I had made an entire pan of it, hoping that Jimmy might want to come over and eat. But he’d called me at around three to let me know he was going out that night since I’d bailed on our double-date night. He was on me about giving him another night that would work, but I couldn’t seem to muster the interest. Right now, I was very focused on learning to read.

So I kept coming up with excuses for why I couldn’t go.

I dropped my oven mitt and went to pick up my phone. My heart started racing when I saw the cowboy boots on my screen. It was Mase.

“Hello,” I said on the third ring.

“Hey. You haven’t called me.” His deep voice came over the phone, and my toes curled into the carpet.

“Oh, well, I don’t go to my first meeting until tomorrow,” I explained, really thankful that he couldn’t see the silly grin on my face right then.

“Good. You have one scheduled. Did you like him when you spoke to him on the phone?”

I walked over and sat down in the chair he had sat in before he left and pulled my feet up under me. “Yes. He was very nice. He seemed eager to meet with me. He asked me several questions, and after hearing my answers, he said he was positive that I do, in fact, have dyslexia.” I had wanted to dance around the room when he’d told me that.