Page 34 of Homebody (The Long Road Home #21)
Chapter Thirty-Three
T wo weeks.
Two of the most miserable weeks Tessa had ever lived through. But she’d survived.
Things had to get better soon, right? She’d now been shunned by Dean for longer than she’d actually known him. The pain had to fade eventually.
What exactly was the half-life of heartbreak? Double the time they were together? Triple? Their love affair had been so fast either multiplier wouldn’t be too long. But somehow she doubted this pain would ever go away completely. It would remain there, faint but ever present. Like a scar.
“I have a speaking engagement coming up.” Liam’s words had her lifting her head from where she’d been transcribing his handwritten notes into the computer.
“Okay,” she said then went back to trying to decipher his scribbles. When Liam was engrossed in work his handwriting proved the stereotype that all doctors had terrible handwriting.
He continued, “In Virginia. And I’ve lined up a couple of meetings while I’m there as well. So I’ll be away for three days. Friday through Sunday.”
“All right. Did you want me to keep working while you’re away or take those days off?” she asked.
“I was wondering if you wanted to come with me. I’d pay for the flight and your hotel room, of course.”
“Really?” she asked, her pulse racing at the opportunity.
He lifted two dark brows. “Yes, really. If Ruby can spare you, that is.”
“She’ll spare me,” Tessa jumped in.
The chance to meet more professionals in her chosen field of research would be too amazing to miss.
“Thank you,” she added.
“You’re welcome,” Liam nodded, then went back to his microscope like he hadn’t just made her day.
The days flew by. But then again daytime hours when she was busy always seemed to speed by, while the nighttime hours when she was home alone dragged on for an eternity.
Before Tessa knew it they’d landed in Virginia and had checked into their respective hotel rooms.
Half an hour after arriving she’d already unpacked, read the free magazine on the desk about sites in the area, perused the room service menu and had learned when and where the free breakfast would be served in the morning.
Now, she stood in the middle of the room, appointed with every convenience a person could possibly need or want, and wondered what to do with herself until Liam needed her to go with him to his speech or his meetings.
It seemed her restlessness wasn’t bound by state lines. She couldn’t stay still. Not even to enjoy the free movie channels touted by the sign next to the television’s remote control.
A text provided a welcome distraction.
Liam
Can you come to my room and proofread my speech?
Sure!! Be right over!
That was too many exclamation points for a reply to such a simple request but she sent it anyway, excited to be doing something. Anything. Anything besides wondering how many miles away Dean’s base was from where they were now.
She knocked on the door across the hall. Liam pulled it open and stepped back so she could come inside. “I’ve got the speech up on my laptop on the desk.”
“Great! Thanks.” Again, her enthusiasm was probably over the top. Her only excuse was that proofreading Liam’s speech was one of the highlights in the misery of her existence.
As she headed toward the desk there was a knock on the door. Liam leaned out of the closet, a shirt in one hand and a hanger in the other. “Could you get the door please, Tess?”
“Of course.” She reversed direction, heading for the door.
The door, it turned out, that Dean was standing on the other side of. She made that discovery the moment she pulled it open and nearly sunk to the floor as her knees gave way beneath her.
“Dean,” she breathed, holding tighter to the door to remain upright.
“Tessa.” Dean looked as shocked to see her as she was him.
She glanced at Liam, who’d tossed the shirt and hanger on the bed and was standing next to her now.
“Come inside, Sinclair.” Liam stepped past Tessa and into the hallway until he was behind Dean.
“What’s this about, Walsh?” Dean asked Liam while his eyes never left her.
“You two are going to talk things out. And neither one of you is going to leave until you do. I’ll be downstairs in the lobby. I’ll know if you leave,” he warned before giving Dean a shove inside, grabbing the doorknob and closing them both in his room.
Liam’s room was as large as hers, but it didn’t feel very big with both her and Dean inside it now.
She shook her head, desperate for Dean to know she hadn’t done this. Hadn’t manipulated the situation to get him here. “I didn’t have anything to do with this. I thought I was here for meetings. Please believe me.”
“Relax, Tessa. I believe you. This is totally something Liam would do.” Dean shook his head. “Fucking busy body.”
This was good. Not that Dean looked so angry, but rather that he believed her and that his anger was directed at Liam, not her.
But they had so much more to straighten out than just Liam tricking Dean into coming to meet him at the hotel and finding Tessa there.
“Dean, I’m sorry. So, so sorry.”
He lifted his gaze to meet hers. “Sorry for what?” It was a challenge as much as a question.
“For everything . For… for saying yes to your mother’s offer in the first place. For not telling you about our deal the moment you and I started to get close. For pretending to be someone I’m not…” She shook her head unable to encapsulate in words all of her many regrets.
“For having sex with me?” he asked, a strange look on his face.
She shook her head. “No. I’m not sorry about that.”
“Mom must have paid you a lot to include that particular service.”
She sucked in a sharp breath at the insult. “Ouch.”
He dropped his chin to his chest. “That was harsh. I’m sorry. I just don’t understand. Any of it.”
Braver than she thought she could be, she took a step forward. Then another until she was standing in front of him. But not too close. The expression on his face prevented her from moving any closer.
“Let me help you understand.”
He let out a short bitter laugh. “You think that’s possible?”
She swallowed hard. “I hope so.”
Any hope for her future happiness depended on it.