Tess in Boots Read Free Page B

nothing happened? Was that the best I could hope for? For us to go on indefinitely, like we had for years, while everyone around me got married and had babies and moved on with their lives?
    I picked up the phone and stared at it. Logan said he would call, but he hadn't yet. With the way things ended, I'd be lucky if I ever heard from him again. Maybe it was time to shake things up. Maybe it was time to give him a little scare.
    What if he comes back and I’m not here?
    The very thought made my stomach fizzy. Did I have the guts to try something like that? I always dreamed of being the kind of girl who was chased down by some handsome, lovesick guy in the movies. I never dreamed of being this girl; the girl who tried to bully her perfect boyfriend into marrying her. And as much as I wanted Logan to call, I wasn’t looking forward to waiting around for him to make a move.
    So what if I did disappear for a bit? Would he chase me? I hoped so. At the very least, getting away would help to keep my mind off things. It’s not like I had anything else to do.
    I would go, I decided, but just for a little bit. Just long enough for Logan to realize what he was missing and beg me to come home.

CHAPTER 4
     
    The next morning, before the sun came up, I was all packed and staring at a blank pad of paper wondering what to write. Logan had a key to my apartment, and in the past, he came over and let himself in after business trips. This time, he would open the door to an empty apartment and a note that would leave him riddled with fear he’d lost me, his one true love, forever. But how to word such a note?
    I wanted to sound as vague and casual as possible.
    Well, if I was being honest with myself, I wanted to write:
    Dearest Logan,
    I have run away in a desperate attempt to get you to chase me down and win my heart with a very grand romantic gesture. Please come with roses, preferably on a white horse. No cake this time.
    XOXO,
    Tess
    That's what I wanted to write. But today, I was the new Tess. The new, non-pathetic, c'est la vie Tess. So I wrote:
    Needed to get away for a bit.
    -Tess
    Wow. I admired my loopy, careless scribble as I placed the note on the entry table where he couldn’t miss it. Then, I loaded two large duffel bags onto my shoulders, pulled my bulging suitcase through the doorway, and locked the door behind me. I walked slowly, struggling under the weight of my bags. They were heavy, but I wasn’t sure what I needed at the vineyard, and I wanted to be prepared.
    I was a few steps away from my front door when I remembered the cardboard box on the kitchen table. I dropped my bags, scrambled to unlock the door, and tucked the box into the coat closet, throwing a quilt over it as an extra precaution. No sense letting Logan find out my entire life had fallen to pieces. Not until after he chased me down, anyway.
    With one final look around the apartment, I shut the door, turned the lock, and was off.
     
    ***
     
    “ Annie, it’s me.” I concentrated on not spilling my coffee as I walked through the parking lot of the rest stop.
    “ Hey. How are you holding up?”
    “ I’m okay.” I spotted my car and walked toward it. “You?”
    “ I have two interviews lined up for tomorrow,” she said.
    Leave it to Annie to get right back on the horse.
    “That’s amazing!” I clicked the button to unlock my car and slid into the driver’s seat.
    “ Thanks. How about you?” she asked.
    “ I found… something.”
    “ Already? What?”
    I placed my coffee in the cup holder. “It’s a… uh, temporary position in marketing.”
    “ Where?”
    “ Out of town,” I said.
    “ Out of town where?”
    “ North Carolina.”
    “ What?”
    I sighed. “Jake inherited a vineyard, and he wants me to help him get the word out.”
    “ Oh gee whiz.”
    “ I know. But I could use a getaway. I’m only going for a couple weeks, tops.”
    “ Where are you now?” she asked.
    I glanced at a nearby sign. “I think I’m somewhere