“Mom, are you there?”
“I’m here. Where are you?”
“At school.”
“Are you okay, honey?”
“I don’t know. Mom, I’m not sure how to say this.”
“I’ll murder him if he hurt one hair on your head. What has he done?”
“You know how everybody used to joke that Billy spent most of his life in love with you?”
“We used to joke that Billy had a crush on me when he was a teenager. That’s different than being in love with me. What’s going on, Renie?”
“Someone else has spent their whole life being in love with him.”
“Are you that someone, Renie?”
“Yes.”
“What’s happened?”
Renie told her about Billy’s offer to let her stay at the house on the weekends, and then told her what had happened the night before, when Billy kissed her.
“The worst part is that he doesn’t remember it.”
Now that Renie wasn’t talking to him, Billy realized how much she usually did. Not talked necessarily, but texted. When he had a good ride, she was the first person he messaged. When he was sitting at home, doing nothing, he’d text to see what she was doing. No matter what, she was always the first person he thought about talking to. Why hadn’t he noticed it until now? She was his touchstone. She comforted him. Now she refused to answer him.
He knew it hadn’t been a dream. He kissed her. If he closed his eyes, he could still feel her lips against his.
I’m sorry, he texted, not knowing what else to say.
Still no answer.
“I want to go see Dottie,” Liv said to Ben the next morning.
“Yeah? We can do that.”
“Maybe you could visit Paige and Mark.” Ben loved hanging out with her best friend’s husband. And since he was on hiatus from touring while his band, CB Rice, recorded a new album, it was a good time for him to take a couple days break from the studio.
“When do you want to leave?”
“As soon as we can.”
Ben kept the plane he and the band shared with his parents at the airport in Gunnison.
“I need her advice about this thing with Renie and Billy.”
“You got it, sweetheart.” Ben kissed her forehead.
She smiled. “What would my life be like without you?”
“You aren’t ever gonna find out.”
They rented a car at the regional airport in Centennial which was an hour’s drive from Monument where Liv’s best friends, Paige and Mark Cochran lived.
“I could come to Dottie and Bill’s with you,” Ben offered when he pulled into the Cochran’s driveway.