“Hi,” he replied. “My day was long. I rode too much.” It was nights like these that I wished he was here so I could massage away the tension I knew he felt in his neck and shoulders. I wished I could help him ice his knee and hear about his day in person.
“How’s it going? Still able to knack-knack and can-can?” I asked.
“Somebody’s been watching motocross videos,” he said, I could hear the amusement in his tone.
“You know it sounds like you’re a dancer,” I replied. “Couldn’t they come up with more macho names for the tricks?” He was right about me watching videos. It was nice to be able to type in his name on the Internet and see him there. Perks of dating a celebrity I guess. I tried to stay away from the articles about his personal life and stick to his professional accomplishments. Didn’t always work, but for the most part everything I saw was positive.
“What else did you learn?”
“Well, I know that there are plenty of videos of you on YouTube, and that there is no shortage of female fans on Twitter. Did you know there is actually a petition for you to be the next Bachelor?”
“No way.”
“Yes way,” I told him. “I mean there are only like a hundred signatures on it, but still. It exists.”
“Too bad I’m not a bachelor anymore,” he joked. “Isn’t that the show with the hot tubs and girls that make bad decisions?”
“Sure is,” I told him. “If you want, I could make bad decisions in a hot tub with you.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.” He paused. “Don’t think I won’t.”
“I know you will,” I assured him. My cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling at our conversation. “I miss you.”
“I know. I miss you too. Three more weeks,” he reminded me.
“Three more weeks.”
“Want to FaceTime tomorrow?” he asked. “I need some time with your face.”
“Sure.” I started to laugh at his word play, but felt a yawn coming on. I tried to fight it back. My day of classes had drained me, and I had to be at the hospital bright and early the next day.
“You better get some sleep,” he told me. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow... say nine o’clock?”
“It’s a date.” Another yawn threatened. “I love you.”
“Love you too.”
They were words I’d never get tired of hearing.
* * *
Nine o’clock couldn’t get there fast enough. It sucked having your new boyfriend a thousand miles away, especially when I’d gotten so used to seeing him every day. Granted it had only been a few days, but my mind was starting to play tricks on me. I kept thinking I heard my phone ring and vibrate in my pocket with a message from him. And I was doing double takes at every blond guy I saw, hoping that it was him. I wanted to say I hated it, but I loved the feeling of being in love so I just laughed it off.
“Georgia Yvonne Bennett,” my mother’s voice echoed down the hospital hallway. I stood up and stuck my head over the nurses’ station counter. There she was, Becky Bennett, walking toward me, holding onto her purse strap like she was on a mission for Jesus himself. Her blond coif freshly styled and her makeup perfect as usual. She might have been a small town girl, but she had a way about her that was all business. A business that focused mainly on keeping tabs on her daughters.
“Hey Mom,” I said, looking at my watch. She’d asked me if she could join me for lunch, but it wasn’t even noon yet. Her early arrival said she wanted to talk about more than just the weather.
“You mind telling me why I just had to hear from your sister that you were dating someone?”
“Well it wasn’t a secret,” I told her. I saw the heads of the other nurses turn to hear our conversation. I did not want to be the juicy piece of gossip that had all my colleagues talking. “We’ll talk about this at lunch,” I whispered to her as I looped my arm through hers. “Do you care if I go a little early?” I asked Charlene, the head nurse on duty that day.
“Go on,” she said with an all knowing smirk. Charlene was like a mother to all the nursing students so I shouldn’t have been surprised when she sided with my actual mother. “And, you better answer your momma,” she added.
“I will,” I agreed, leading my mother away from the prying ears of the bored nursing staff. The hospital had been slow that day. Not that I’d say it out loud. The second you mentioned not being busy in a hospital, the doors were bound to fly open, patients would flood in, and every single thing could go wrong would. “So Nora opened up her big mouth, huh?”
“Not on purpose,” my mother said as we boarded the elevator. I pushed the button for the cafeteria floor. “She’d assumed that you had already told me. It’s not like it’s a big deal or anything,” she added with a shake of her head.
“I know I should have told you, but it’s all so new. I didn’t want to jinx it.”
“Honey,” she said patting my arm. “I’m just pleased as punch that you’re actually putting yourself out there. I know the last few years have been rough.”
I nodded. My mother had had a front row seat to everything my entire life. I knew she worried about me.
“So tell me about him.”
“He’s amazing,” I gushed. “Southern. Charming. Dangerously so. You’ll love him.” Our conversation stalled as we filled our trays with hospital food. By the time we took a seat in a corner booth, I could tell she had come up with a hundred questions about Brett.
“Brett Sallinger,” she said his name, so I knew my sister had already told her more about him than she was letting on. “He’s a rider? Like Reid?”
“Kind of. He doesn’t race. He’s a freestyle rider,” I explained.
“So he does flips and stuff.”
“Yeah.” I laughed. “Something like that.”
“Does this mean you are going to pack up and leave like your sister did?”
“No, Mom... well... I don’t really know,” I confessed. “It’s all so new, and I need finish school and pass my boards.”
“It’s okay if you do, honey,” she reassured me. “I mean, I’ll miss you and drive you crazy with phone calls, but as long as your happy.”
“I know that. I just don’t want to get too far ahead of myself.”
“When will I get to meet him?”
“Next time he’s here. I promise.”
“Okay, I’ll quit interrogating you.” She smiled. “Now we can talk about your sister and this rush job wedding she’s wanting to pull off. Did you know that she wants to have the wedding in February? Like three months away February?”
“I hadn’t heard that news yet, but I’m not surprised. They took a little longer to figure out that they were supposed to be with each other than most.”
“True. I just hope that we’re able to get everything done in time.”
“I’ll help you,” I told her. “I have a little experience in the subject.” The truth was, I’d planned out my entire wedding with Jamie. I knew in my closet there was a list of local vendors and venues that I hadn’t been able to throw away. Seeing how frazzled my mom was at planning a wedding for my sister who was MIA at the moment made me glad that I’d kept it. “I think I know the perfect place.”
“That would be fantastic,” my mom said. I could see the question her eyes. Silently asking if I was really okay with that. I nodded. I was okay with it. I was more than okay with it.
“Hey baby,” I said the second I saw her face appear on my iPad screen—as beautiful as ever. Her hair still damp from a shower and her body covered by the soft white rob that I knew usually hung on the back of her door. Her headboard was behind her so I could tell she was sitting on her bed. What I wouldn’t have given to be lying there next to her. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”