Page 21 of Smash

“I sort of promised Cara I’d see her show tonight. Thought maybe you and Calder would want to come, too. She said she could get me as many tickets as I needed.”

“Oh.” I tilted my head as I thought about it. “Maybe. I’ll have to see if he’s in the mood when he gets home.”

“Yeah. Just hit me up before seven. We can all go together.”

“Okay.” I gulped. “See you later…maybe.”

As I walked upstairs, I wondered if going to see Rafe’s beautiful, talented girlfriend on stage was something I wanted to put myself through. Perhaps, though, it was just the reality check I needed.

CHAPTER 7

“What are your plans for the week?” Calder folded a pair of slacks into his suitcase and zipped that side shut. His boss had sprung a week-long business trip on him only three days ago.

I sat down on the bed beside his suitcase and crossed my legs yoga style. “Museums. I’m going to hit one a day. MoMA, the Museum of Natural History, the Met, the Frick, and the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.”

“I’ll miss you while I’m gone.” He grinned. “But I won’t miss doing any of those outings. I’ve never been a museum person.”

“Really?”

He shrugged and tossed a bunch of underwear and socks into the other side of his suitcase. “There were two kinds of kids when we went to museums on class trips in school. The ones who could stand and stare at a painting forever, tilting their heads to get the perfect angle, and the ones checking their watches, wondering how much longer until we got to eat lunch. I was aggressively the latter.”

I smiled, but something about his response tugged at me. It wasn’t that we’d probably never spend an afternoon wandering a museum together. It was that I hadn’t known that about him—another thing I was only now discovering I’d missed. Honestly, though, I liked going to museums alone—no one rushing me along or waiting for me to move on. It shouldn’t have bothered me. But it did.

A half hour later, Calder was all packed and ready to go. The company was sending a car to take him to the airport, so I walked to the window to check out front.

“It’s here.”

He sighed and came over, wrapping his arms around my waist. “I’m sorry I have to take this trip. I hate leaving you alone when I’ve barely had time to show you around.”

“I told you, it’s fine. I have plenty to do.”

He leaned in, brushing his lips with mine. “I’ll make it up to you when I’m back. Take you anywhere you want. I promise.”

“Oh great. I saw a flyer for an all-night poetry slam at that bookstore we went to.”

Calder’s face fell, and I laughed. “I’m kidding.”

His shoulders sagged with relief. “Thank God.”

I kissed him again. “You should go. The car’s waiting. Have a good trip.”

“Thanks, babe.”

I watched from the window as the black Town Car pulled away from the curb and disappeared down the street. Once it was gone from sight, I exhaled, my shoulders dropping. Relief.

That realization came with a flicker of guilt.

That wasn’t how I was supposed to feel when my boyfriend left for a whole week, certainly not when we’d only just moved in together. I should’ve been sad. Or a little lonely. Instead, it felt like something had been lifted.

“Wow,” I murmured. “Not a great sign.”

I turned from the window and looked at the unmade bed. Soft sheets, down pillows…all to myself. The temptation to crawl back in and waste the day away was strong. But that would only give me more time to think about things I wasn’t ready to examine.

I shook my head. Nope. Not happening.

What I needed was to keep myself busy and establish a routine. My new job was starting in two weeks, and I had to get my ass back into some kind of rhythm. The first order of business? Exercise. I hadn’t done any since I got here, and that was going to change today.

I headed to the closet and dug my running sneakers out from the back. What better way to get more familiar with the neighborhood than a daily jog? Maybe I’d even stumble across a Pilates studio while I was out and pop in.