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Five days.
Fallon:
Seems like five million but it’s a start.
Encouraged by her response, the ache of discussing my father’s betrayal eases as I make my way out of Rodeo Ralphs to my truck. Knowing I’ll speak to Fallon daily between texts and phone calls, we can make this work.
We have to.
I can’t live without her any more.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
SEVEN VIRTUES, NORTH CAROLINA
My favorite color palate is always fall.
—Eva Henn, Fashion Blogger
Magic. It’s not just in the change of the season rippling across the mountain leaves, leading them from an almost iridescent green to an array of colors that range from the palest yellow to the deepest red. It’s in the way I feel when Ethan slips into my bed late on a Friday night and we remain wrapped up in each other until late Sunday when he returns to Kensington.
Cocooned in our bubble, we exchange whispers of truths. I tell him about the pileup that killed my father, how I have no contact with my paternal grandparents—which he questions. I shrug without much force. “I guess if they really wanted something to do with me, they’d have tried long before now, Ethan. Mama and I are a large enough family. We have each other; that’s all that matters.”
He frowned before saying words that buried himself to the core of me when he reaffirmed something his sister said to me thousands of times. “You’re part of a much larger family, Fallon. You’re one of us—and that includes your mother.” Then he ducked his head down and pressed his lips to mine in a languid kiss that clearly demonstrated he meant in a way different than the way I was accepted before.
Months have passed since that first weekend he flew back to see me. Months of incandescent joy intermingled with loneliness every time I drop him off at the regional airport for him to fly home. It’s forced me to think long and hard in the time when he’s not here. Have I convinced myself my career will make me happy because I couldn’t have what I really want—Ethan?
Do I want something different? Something I could have had if I hadn’t left Texas?
The thoughts persist as I pick up a few shifts at Galileo’s—something I haven’t done since I took my job with the Biltmore. But I couldn’t refuse when Levi called pleading since, “Half the staff is out with this motherfucking bug, Fallon. Even Caroline is down, and you know she never calls out.”
My nose wrinkled. “Did you fumigate the place?” The last thing I wanted to happen was catching whatever was going around and I’d be too sick to appreciate Ethan’s upcoming trip.
“You bet your sweet ass, I did. Every surface has been cleaned, every bottle, and I’ve had every glass sanitized five times. I’m debating having one of those temperature check scanners installed at the door so none of those dumb fucks from the university can come through if they have a fever.”
I snorted at Levi’s vehemence. “Those ‘dumb fucks,’ as you just called them, pay your bills.”
“Yeah, but now I’m having to resort to begging to keep the lights on.”
“This was begging?” My voice was incredulous.
“About as close as it’s going to get.” Just as I was about to lambast him, he quickly wrapped up the call. “See you at six.”
I shoot off a quick text to Ethan to tell him to come straight to Galileo’s when he lands and why.
Ethan:
Sounds good, witch.
Ethan:
See you then.
Fallon:
Fly safe.
After warning our security team I have a guest arriving and when so they let him directly in, I call out to Levi, who is already slinging drinks behind the bar. “You planning on sharing your tips with me tonight?”