About Tomorrow - Abbi Glines Page 0,3

than his.”

His door opened and the simplicity of it was perfect. There was a full-size bed in the far-right corner up against the wall. His large overstuffed and faded blue chair sat in the other corner. It had been his grandfather’s chair and he was attached to it. The chair had been the only furniture he moved here. The rest he’d bought when he arrived. This was my first time seeing it; although I’d asked him to send pictures, he never got around to it.

One single floor lamp stood beside his chair. A black three-drawer dresser sat against the left wall with a black framed mirror hung above it. Beside that were book shelves full of his textbooks and other medical journals. All he needed was an area rug and I made a note to buy him one. The floors would be cold soon.

“This is amazing,” I said, tilting my head to look up at him. He smiled then bent his head to kiss me. He was happy here and I was relieved. I felt as if he’d chosen Boston because of the proximity to my Gran’s house. I hadn’t been sure what to do with her house, but the idea of selling it had been too painful for me to consider. When he had chosen Boston for med school, I’d made my decision easily enough.

Now, I got to live in it and start my life in New England. Far enough away from my mother and her insanity to find some peace. No one knew me here; I wasn’t known as the famous country singer, Denver Copeland’s, daughter like I was in Nashville. I could just be me.

The door to the apartment opened and a male voice began talking. I hadn’t met Chet yet and knew little about him. Griff had been so busy since moving here, our talking had been limited.

“Room’s to the right. Your bed is the one on the left,” I heard him say. He wasn’t alone.

“You get to meet both my roommates,” Griff said, looking pleased.

Then he spoke…The other one…the new temporary roommate. Time slowed and I stood there unable to move. Breathing seemed difficult. My heart was the only thing moving quickly…too quickly. Butterflies erupted in my stomach and although I knew it wasn’t true. It wasn’t him. The voice…it was so similar. Deeper now but the tone, the accent, it was the same. I was going to hyperventilate if I didn’t focus on getting myself under control. It was just a voice. Nothing more. Emotions churned in my chest, overwhelming me, and I still couldn’t move.

Griff’s hand found mine and I heard him say, “Come on,” as if my world hadn’t just been tossed into a churning sea of memories, both good and bad. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes briefly. It had been six summers since I’d seen him. Six years since our lives changed without notice. Why did Creed Sullivan still affect me so much? It wasn’t fair that the sound of a voice could do this to me.

I needed to see the stranger’s face and I knew my emotions would stop going crazy. I just needed reassurance that it wasn’t Creed. Once all I’d wanted was to see Creed Sullivan again. I had wanted to ask him why, have him hold me, promise me he still loved me but that Sailor was no longer. The one thing I had overcome was loving Creed.

That reassurance I had hoped for never came because the stranger wasn’t a stranger.

When my eyes found his face, it felt as if time stopped. All the memories were back and the last moment I had been held by him slapped me in the face. Years of counseling seemed pointless. I was going to fall apart. Jerking my gaze from him, needing to find composure and quickly before Griff noticed, I looked at the other man in the room. The one I didn’t recognize. The face that wasn’t in my dreams and nightmares. The face that didn’t haunt me.

“Hey! I didn’t know you were here and this must be Sailor,” a guy with a headful of blonde curls and bright green eyes said as he stepped forward and held out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Sailor. I’m Chet. I’ve heard a lot about you, and Griff wasn’t exaggerating. You’re as lovely as he said you were.”

Keeping my gaze on Chet and forcing a smile was difficult. The heat from the other set of eyes in