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.“Look at me, Rom.I’m pushing forty and I’m alone.I go back in there and the next thing I know I’m fifty and still in the same place.““Running away won’t change who you are, Mem.”“Maybe not.But I can’t stay here, Rom.I have to go.” Not until she’d said the words did she realize how true they were.She wasn’t happy and hadn’t been for a long time.And unless she did something to change her life, she was going to waste what time she had left being miserable.“Where will you go?” Rom asked.“I don’t know.I just have to go.”“And what are we supposed to do here without you? You’re the Magic Eye, Mem.Without you we’re just—”“The Studio,” she interjected.“The finest group of photographers in the country, with more commercial accounts than anyone in the business.You’ll be fine, Rom.You already run the place anyway.”“Memory, please.” His voice broke.“Don’t go.”“I have to, Rom.” She fought back tears.“For how long?”“I don’t know.”He hugged her tight for a long time.“I’ll let you go if you promise to call me every single day and always answer your phone when I call.”“I promise,” she murmured against his shoulder, holding on to him tightly.After a minute, he released her.“Just remember, I have your phone and computer lo-jacked.”She smiled and brushed away the tears on her face, then reached up to cup the side of his face.“I know.I love you, Rom.”“I love you too, honey.”“I’ll talk to you soon,” she said and turned away.“Tonight!”“Tonight,” she agreed with a wave over her shoulder and kept walking.If she didn’t keep going she might chicken out, and now that she’d made the decision she knew it was right.The only question was, where was she headed?Chapter TwoColton tossed his cards down on the table.“Fold.”The man across the table from him, his oldest friend, Anthony Tosta, snickered around the stub of cigar in his mouth.“Who’s ya daddy?” He racked in the loose dollar bills and quarters from the center of the table.All of the men laughed.Normally the cards favored Colton and turned a cold shoulder on Anthony.Tonight the roles were reversed.Colton wasn’t upset that he’d lost a few bucks.He was just in a foul mood.“Think I’ll call it a night,” he announced and pushed back from the table.“Me too,” Anthony said and stood.“Gretchen gets testy when I stay out too late.”The other two men at the table mumbled their agreement and within minutes the weekly poker game was concluded.Colton and Anthony walked outside together.“Something gnawing at you?” Anthony asked.“Nope.”“Yeah, now I know something’s eating at you.What’s up?”Colton stopped at the curb and leaned up against the 1966 Ford pickup he’d worked so hard to restore.“Just a shitty mood.”“Any particular reason?”Colton blew out his breath and shook his head.“Nothing I can really put my finger on.Just general…dissatisfaction.”Anthony’s dark features arranged into a thoughtful frown.He leaned up against the truck beside Colton.“Everything okay at the ranch? I know things are tough with you being short-handed.If you need some help I might be able to—”“It’s okay,” Colton cut him off.“I’m making out okay.”“If it’s not business then… You got woman problems brother?”“Nope.No woman to have problems with.Maybe that’s the problem.Damn, Anthony, I’m running out of time if I ever want to have a family.”“Hey, now.We’re not that old!”“Easy for you to say.You and Gretchen have had five good years so far, and a baby on the way.The way my life is going, all I’m ever gonna be is old Uncle Colton, the bachelor.”Anthony chuckled.“Not like you haven’t had your share of chances, my man.Like that hottie last month.Gretchen and I were both a little blown away by the way she was all over you at the softball cookout.”“Yeah, well, she changed her tune real fast when she found out what I did for a living.” It still stung a little.The woman had treated him like sub-human when she found out his business was running a ranch and restoring classic cars, or as she called it, “junk cars.”“Look man, we all know there’s a lot of women out there who are more interested in money than anything else, but there’s still good women out there too.Your problem is your looks.”“Well thanks, Anthony.”“Man, you know what I mean.You’re one of those guys who have it going on in the looks department.You got what it takes to attract the ladies and maybe you just choose to act on the wrong attractions and end up with the Barbie dolls instead of the gals that might have something real to offer.”“Bullshit.When have I ever judged a person on their looks?”Anthony pushed away from the car.“Colton, we’ve been best friends since we were five and you stopped those rednecks from beating up on the new black kid.I know your heart’s in the right place, but women are a whole other breed than us.Maybe you’re just using the wrong criteria for selecting women.”“So what? I should start asking out every ugly woman I meet?”“Uh, no.Just don’t look past someone who might be worth taking another look at as you make your way to another Barbie.”Colton regarded his friend for a few moments.He knew Anthony meant well, and he’d be the first to admit that anyone who took a look at his life would assume that he was only interested in what Anthony called Barbie dolls.He’d dated more than his fair share of them.But Anthony knew that what Colton wanted was someone to love and build a life with.“Sometimes I think maybe it’s just not in the cards for me.”“Not according to Mama,” Anthony argued.Colton cut him a hard look.“Just because she believes it doesn’t mean it’s true.”“But you wear the crystal,” Anthony pointed out.“And who knows, maybe it will end up leading you to the woman meant for you.Stranger shit’s happened, bro.Remember when Mama told me to pack a picnic and take Congo out to Reedy Creek Park on a cold February day? I thought she was nuts.But if I hadn’t been out there tossing that disc to Congo, I’d never have met Gretchen.”Colton shrugged.No point in arguing that point.It was a fact.“You better hit it,” he said instead.“Or Gretchen’ll have your skinny ass.”Anthony chuckled.“I wish.Right now she’s swearing she’s carrying around a baby Beluga and in no mood at all to have anything to do with my skinny ass.”Colton laughed.“See you later, man.Hey to Gretchen for me.”“Later,” Anthony replied and headed to his car, a nice sensible Subaru parked in front of Colton’s truck.Colton walked around the truck and got in behind the wheel.Maybe Anthony was right.Maybe he just wasn’t looking in the right direction when it came to love.He just wished he knew which direction was the right one.* * * * *Memory had been on the road for two weeks.She’d left San Francisco, found I-40 and hit the road, driving until she was tired or saw something of interest.Then she’d stop, check into a hotel and wander around with her camera, keeping no timetable or schedule.It’d been relaxing and she loved some of the shots she’d taken.Ordinary people in ordinary situations—an old couple sitting on a bench outside an ice-cream shop sharing a cone, children playing in the water of a oscillating sprinkler in their yard—simple life that somehow seemed far more beautiful to her than any of the photography she’d done the last few years.But now she was getting tired of the road and wanted to find a place she could stay while she decided what she wanted to do with her life [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]