Shattered Edge (7 page)

CHAPTER EIGHT

Terri

The call ended and the phone sat in my hand, like some alien creature. The thing is, I was surprised the damn thing didn’t come alive and bite my nose off or something.

What the hell had just happened? Why did I ask him that question? I didn’t even mean anything by it...it had just popped out of my big old stupid mouth. When would I ever learn to grow a freakin’ filter? Crap in a freakin' hat!

I punched the pillow with my hand and plopped down with a puff. My belly was contorted up like a bunch of knots. Dad taught me to tie all these marine knots when I was young. He used to take me fishing on his boat. My stomach felt like that rope he used when he tied the boat off at the dock...all twisted around those cleats.

There was no way I could sleep now so I threw off my covers and got out of bed.
Shiz
! Why can’t someone invent one of those cool time machines you see in the movies, because I’d like to have one right now. I’d turn it back thirty minutes and shut my stupid trap. My imagination was on fast forward with all sorts of scenarios Justin was most likely thinking right now. There was no doubt he thought I was one of those clingy girls that had to have their guy constantly validating how important they were to him.
Double shiz!
There I went again. He was not my guy! I didn’t have sole claim to him or anything. We had not even gotten close to that point and I wasn’t ready for that. What the hell happened to our six month arrangement, for Christ’s sake? We were on, what, day four? And here I was calling him my guy!
Get a grip Mitchell!

My head, neck and back felt like a two ton elephant was laying on it. I rubbed the hell out of it and stretched it this way and that, trying to alleviate the ache that had just moved in. Grrr!

I padded into my bathroom and hunted around for some Advil PM. Hooray! I found some and quickly popped a couple. Hopping back into bed, I hit the remote and hunted something really boring to watch. I knew this was going to be a long night.

********

My alarm woke me and my face fell when I noticed the time. It was six thirty. Justin hadn’t called. I checked my phone, just to make sure, but no calls or texts had come in. The ache that was just an itty bitty thing last night, took root and started to grow now. It edged its way in and I tried really hard to push it out. Giving myself a big girl talk, I reasoned that I was the one who brought all this on. Me and my damned big mouth...pushing for some kind of answer from him.

That ache that I swore to myself I didn’t ever want to feel again, had blossomed into a full grown throbbing pain. My hand was absently rubbing my chest before I even realized it.

Knowing I was on limited time before I had to be at work, I took a brief shower and quickly got ready. Traffic was minimal and no one was there when I let myself in. I got the coffee going along with my to do folder for the day. Gearing up for two signed contracts, I gathered all my things together and got organized.

Alana popped her head in and asked if I needed anything. I brought her up to date on my two impending contracts and told her I had another couple of showings that afternoon. She cocked her head and looked at me. “Are you okay Terri?”

Looking up at her I cleared my throat and said, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You look a little pale today. You sure?”

“Yeah, I just didn’t sleep very well.”

“Oh, okay. If you need anything, just let me know.”

“Thanks Alana.”

I pulled myself together and put my hand on my knotted stomach. I needed to do something. This day would be too unbearable if I let this ridiculous misunderstanding keep Justin and I apart. My decision made, I picked up my phone and texted him.

Me: Good morning. Know you’re busy today. Wanted you to know that I didn’t mean anything by that last night. Hope everything is ok with us. Have a great day. Miss U!

I hit send before I chickened out.  He’d said he was backed up all day and had call that night so I didn’t set any expectations for any return texts from him, but I got one immediately.

J: Good morning to you gorgeous. Miss u too. Will be tied up all day and nite. Wish it was with u ;-) I’ll call when I can.

That made me smile
, especially when I saw his winky face, and my stomach ache disappeared just like that. I was suddenly starving. But wait...he didn’t comment on what I said last night. Was he avoiding all that? Oh boy, my stomach just did another hitch.  Maybe I was over thinking all of this. Damn. Lexi was not getting back for another three weeks and I sure could use her advice. She’d most likely just tell me to roll with it, but damn, I needed to talk.

Alana! She would help. She was always ready and willing. Before I lost my nerve, I trucked out of my door and straight to her desk.

She looked up as I approached. Hell, I sounded like an eighteen wheeler. “Terri. Everything okay?”

“Huh uh. Do you have time for lunch today?”

“Sure. Noon good?”

“Perfect. Do you mind meeting me in West Ashley? I have a contract signing over there and I should be done by then.”

“No problem. You name the place.”

Of course, I picked my favorite, Home Team. It was a local barbecue joint, but they had the best wings known to man.

“You got it. See you over there then.”

I hurried back to my office, grabbed my stuff and headed out the door.

The morning was filled with my two contract signings. I met my first client, the widow who was downsizing, in Mount Pleasant, at the condo she wanted to buy. We finished up with all the details and I could see the sadness behind her smile.

“I know this must be bittersweet for you Margaret.”

Her green eyes were filled with such sadness I put my arms around her and hugged her. “Oh, Terri. It is. I love that old house of mine, but the memories there are just too much. And then it’s so big. Way too much for someone like me to take care of. My children are after me constantly because they worry about me. But I don’t know if this is the right thing to do either.”

My eyes welled up, but I didn’t want her to see. She was so torn. I wish one of her children had come with her today. It might have made it so much easier on her.

“Margaret, we don’t have to do this today. We can wait. You know, the market is wide open right now. It’s a buyer’s market. There are tons of properties available. This place has been on the market for almost a year. Would you like to think about it some more?”

Her eyes sparked a tiny bit and I knew that was exactly the thing she needed to hear.  “You don’t mind?”

I took her hand in mine and assured her, “Of course not. I can even show you some other things. Have you considered a patio home? I live in one and they’re great. It’s sort of like a condo, but it’s a separate unit, only you don’t have to do any yard work or exterior maintenance. You still pay a monthly regime fee and everything is taken care of.”

She looked at me and hugged me. “Thank you dear. I think I would love that.”

I walked her to her car and promised I would call her in a couple of days with some other properties to see. She was not ready to buy and the last thing I wanted to do was to push her into something she didn’t want.

My next stop was with the contract signing with the couple at their soon to be new house. Even though this had become a routine thing for me, the wife was so excited, I caught that bubble and floated right along with her.

Jenn and I went from room to room while Carlos tagged along in the background. When we got to the master bedroom and the arrangement of the closet, he finally interrupted us saying, “Hey, am I even going to have a say in all of this? I’m living here too.”

Jenn and I looked at each other and broke out in laugher. I was the first to speak. “I’m so sorry. I did get a little carried away in here, but this is such a great house.” I even felt myself blushing in embarrassment. The thing about this couple was, I really liked them. “The next thing you know Carlos, I’ll be moving into your spare bedroom!”

That got a chuckle out of him. We finished up in the house and I promised to call when everything was set for the closing. I decided I wanted to take them to dinner to celebrate.

Home Team was only a short ten minute ride away and I made it there right about the time Alana was pulling in the lot too. We walked in the door together and were immediately seated. A waitress hit us up for our drink order and we also gave her our lunch order...wings of course.

“So what’s bugging you? You don’t look right.”

I sighed. “Long story so I hope you don’t mind.”

“We’ve been friends for how long now? Five years?”

I nodded.

“Why would I mind? You were there for me when Randy cheated on me. So go.”

“Well, you know about Justin, right?”

“You mean Pearce’s brother Justin?”

“Yep.”

“What about him?”

I explained the whole story...well, maybe not the whole story. There were some details that were just too personal to share.

“So you think just because you asked him if you were his girl, you freaked him out or something?”

“Well, yeah. He acted really strange afterward.”

“Maybe you just surprised him. Like he wasn’t expecting it.”

I thought about that for a minute. Maybe that’s what happened. Maybe I caught him off guard and he didn’t know what to say.

“Terri, guys are like that. They sort of like to be in the driver’s seat and for the most part, the emotional thing freaks them out. He probably just said that as an offhanded remark and you commenting about it, took him by surprise.”

The burden was released. Alana may be right. My gut pains eased. My neck tension released.

“Those creases between your eyes look better. I must’ve made sense.”

“Yeah, I think you did,” I smiled.

“Good. Now, I’m going to ask you a question. I take it you two are sleeping together. Are you exclusive?”

Crap storm!

“Okay, I can tell by that expression on your face, that’s something you either don’t know or haven’t discussed. Do it Terri. At the first chance you get. If you’re sleeping with him routinely, you have every right to ask that. Don’t you agree?”

“Yes.” I said it without thinking. Why hadn’t I thought of that before?  “Quite honestly, that hadn’t crossed my mind. I guess I’ve been so mesmerized by it all.”

Alana was quiet for a second and then said sedately, “Well it should have and now that it has, do it. If he’s been any kind of a player in the past, you absolutely have a right to do that.”

Now my freakin’ guts felt like not only were they all twisted up like marine knots on cleats tied to a dock, but someone had just doused them with kerosene and flicked a damn match on them. 

We finished our lunch, but the best wings in town were barely touched by yours truly. I wrapped them up and took them back to the office. I’d eat them for dinner tonight...if I could swallow them then.

Thank God the afternoon was stacked with appointments and such, or I don’t know what I’d have done. That nagging thing about exclusivity had not only wormed its way through my gut, it had wedged its way into my brain and was destroying any semblance of sanity. If this was week one with Justin, by six months I would be an inpatient in the state mental health hospital up in Columbia, South Carolina. He was messing with my brain, my stomach and my heart. Was it possible to suffer from psycho-cardio-gastritis? I’m positive I had it. My body was inflamed for him. That didn’t even include my sex. I couldn’t go there right now because I was flat out of clean panties and didn’t have time to do laundry.

Dragging myself in the house after I hit the gym that night, I limped into the shower. That hot water never felt so good as it hit my neck and shoulders. I let it beat and massage out the tension for as long as the hot water lasted. Then I washed, shampooed and conditioned. When I was done, I twisted my hair up in towel and dried myself off. After I slathered on my lavender body butter, I threw on a t-shirt and dug around in my dresser drawer for some clean panties. I was out. The only thing I could come up with was an old stretched out pair of boy shorts that were two sizes too big. I bought them years ago as part of a costume and they actually had dry rot in the elastic. I could barely keep them up and when I put them on, they resembled granny panties. Oh well, it was either that or commando. I was way too tired to do laundry. I’d put in a load in the morning, because I didn’t have to meet a client until ten thirty. I could barely drag my butt into bed and was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

I heard my phone ringing so I stuck my hand out of the covers and grabbed it.

“Hullo,” My voice rasped.

“Mmm. I think I woke someone up. I didn’t want to scare you but I’ll be walking through your front door in about one minute.”

“I thought you were on call.”

“I was. It ended thirty minutes ago. I took a shower and I wanted to  lay next to this gorgeous girl I know.”