Still chuckling, he grinned at me. “I forgot you had a direct line to my sense of humor.”
“I’m so, so sorry about standing you up,” I said earnestly, clasping my hands together between my knees so I didn’t fidget. “I got a call in the middle of the night from my agent saying a piece I’d been working on was needed sooner than they company had specified. They’d had a new PR team assess their campaign, and they wanted to beat another company who was releasing something similar.”
He just watched me intently, not saying a word. “I tried finding you on Facebook, but there are so many Marcus’s in America on there it was impossible.”
I stopped to lick my lips, hating how dry my mouth was at that moment. “I’ve also been under a lot of stress recently, which is why I moved to Nonna’s, so the location of your ranch and where she moved to last year never clicked for me. I was even thinking of taking a drive to Orlando and driving through it in the hopes of seeing you, but my ass was numb, and I needed the bathroom.”
“Why didn’t you just find a rest stop?”
“Are you kidding?” my voice squeaked out of me at the thought. “Do you know the kind of bacteria and stuff in those places? And don’t even get me started on the glory holes and perverts who hang around there.”
I shoved my hand in my hair, pushing my bangs away from my eyes. “Would it kill them to disinfect everything at least once a day? You know, when you wash your hands, you’re meant to turn the faucet off with a paper towel, right? If you don’t, you’ve got the same bacteria and gross shit on your hand that you started with. Then there’s opening the door to get back out again.” I shuddered at the thought of it all.
“I’ll remember that the next time I go to one.”
“You’re a man, you’re lucky. Just find a bush on the side of the road, pee behind it, and get a wet wipe for your hands. Don’t open yourself up to the grossness of a public bathroom.”
Tilting his head to the side, he asked, “And you can’t do the same thing?”
“My guy,” I drawled, throwing a hand out. “Women have to pop a squat if they pee on the side of the road. That leads to all sorts of issues, trust me. Can you imagine trying to do it while you’re holding your jeans and underwear out the way?”
Then it hit me. Sweet Jesus, I was discussing going to the fucking bathroom with him. I’d stood the guy up and had just been reunited with him through some divine intervention or something, and I was talking about peeing and public restrooms with him. I was such a freaking loser!
“I’m so sorry,” I said, realizing I was saying those words to him a lot. “Can we forget the last five minutes of conversation, please?”
“I come from a large family of all boys. Bathroom habits are normal—everyone has to do it.” He was talking sense, but it didn’t erase how embarrassed I was. “Addy, after the last six months, if you wanted to talk to me about taking a crap, being constipated, hell, having some sort of infection, I’d listen.”
That was… gross but sweet at the same time. It also soothed something inside me, knowing he’d thought about me as much as I had about him. In the grand scheme of life, six months was nothing. But at the same time, when you were thinking about someone you never thought you’d see again, it felt like it’d last ten times longer than that.
“I wish things had worked out differently for us,” I admitted, feeling slightly vulnerable when his face cleared of emotions, and he just stared back at me blankly. “I knew I was working myself to the bone, which was why I took the vacation, but then my career ended up biting me in the ass anyway.”
Marcus took his time answering, but he kept his eyes on me the whole time. Finally, he let out a long breath, stood up, and pulled me out of my seat before wrapping me up in his arms. It felt good to be held by him again, and judging by the way his muscles relaxed as he rested his chin on the top of my head, he felt the same way.
“I’m so relieved to have you here.” I gripped his t-shirt on either side of his waist as he spoke, needing to hold onto him for a moment. “I wasn’t sure where to start looking to find you, or even if you wanted me to do that. Seeing you standing there yesterday, I swear I thought I was imagining it.”