"You could say that."
"She's not that far from here, either. So, you tell me what the next move is."
I stood there in silence for a few seconds. When you were a kid, you were taught things by your parents or by finding shit out the hard way. For me, my parents were trapped in a debt and a marriage that came without love. So I learned a lot of hard lessons on my own. For example, if you touch a hot stove and get burned, chances are you're not going to touch the stove again next time it's hot.
Right?
That was Lacey.
I touched and got burned.
I had a pretty woman in my bed. We could wake up, talk, flirt, fuck, and see what would happen from there.
But this was Lacey … the one. The only one.
I looked at Axel. "Give me the number."
"You sure about this?" he asked.
"What would you do if your ex-wife tried to track you down?"
"I'd wonder how much fucking money she wanted," Axel said, laughing. He rubbed his chin. "For real though? I'd probably let her find me so I could fuck her one more time for good measure."
"No love there at all?"
"Why does my situation matter?" Axel asked. "You want the number, I'll text it to you. Make sure you know what you're doing. Can't have you going dark on us, man."
"I'm not going anywhere," I said. "Thanks for checking on me."
"Try to keep yourself out of trouble," Axel said. "Women have a way of just getting to that last little sliver of your heart and fucking with it."
"Yeah, I know," I grumbled.
Axel left, and by the time I got to the bedroom, my phone was lit up with the phone number that belonged to someone named Karen.
A quick text exchange gave me all I needed to know.
Lacey had gotten drunk and started to cry, spilling her guts about me. She really needed to see me again. I would have gotten in my truck right then and gone to her, but she was passed out cold.
So I sat on the edge of the bed and kept looking back at Ana.
It was like the past was coming back to haunt me. My finding comfort in women. Wondering what Lacey was doing. And as far as her anger for me not finding her, there was something she didn't know.
I had found her.
Once.
Through a friend of a friend, I was able to check on her.
And she was with some guy, and they were talking about getting married.
I put my face into my hands.
How many times could I break my own heart for the sake of the past?
I was good for at least one more time, because I was going to see Lacey in the morning.
I managed to catch a little sleep.
I got up long before Ana did, which was part of my plan.
It was an asshole move to make, but I wrote a quick note telling her I had to take care of some business. That was just how I dealt with women. Nothing could ever compare to Lacey, and nobody would ever stop me from getting a chance to see her and be with her.
I left the note on the bed and nodded at Ana's sleeping body.
Then I was out the door and gone.
I hit a drive-thru for a breakfast sandwich and coffee. Being up that early in the morning was not my kind of thing. But I told Karen I would be there by eight.
I knocked on the door with two minutes to spare.
When the door opened, there was a pretty blonde standing there, eyeing me. She was skinny, wearing a lot of jewelry and a lot of makeup. The kind that someone wore to cover up scars on the inside. Her eyes told a story of survival and pain.
"You're the famous River," she said.
"You're the famous Karen," I threw back. "You must be a really good friend to Lacey for this. Bothering me in the middle of the night."
"She regrets whatever happened between you two," Karen said. "Come on in. Want some coffee?"
"Sure," I said.
I sat at a round table that had four chairs.
Karen poured coffee into two mugs that didn't match.
I declined the cream and sugar she offered before she sat down across from me. She blew into her coffee as she stared at me, trying to figure me out.
"We go way back," I said. "You know that, right?"
"Oh, I know that. You're her one and only, River. I hope you know that."
"Yeah," I said. "Things didn't turn out the way I hoped … "
"You had an engagement ring?"
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "Wow. You just get right into it."
"I've never seen her like I did last night. She's never opened to me like that. I've known Lacey for a good five years. Maybe a little less. She and I became friends as two lost people. I was going through a divorce, and she was fleeing everything she knew."