"You took an awful long time to do it."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, surprised at his tone. He must still be half-asleep and cranky, but I didn't like where he was heading.
"I flew over twelve hours to get here, but you gave serious thought to going to work." A touch of anger entered his voice. I took a deep breath, reminding myself that he had been up all night.
"I did think about it. I thought about going in and helping my coworkers, people who I consider my friends, while you were busy sleeping. I didn't though. I'm staying here." I moved to the foot of the bed in order to see him better. The TV cast a strange bluish glow on his skin, his hair poking up in an unruly pattern. He looked like he could fall over and go straight back asleep at any moment, except for the frown on his face keeping him awake.
"I don't appreciate that you even considered it," he said quietly.
"You mean you're mad that I considered doing something while you were sleeping?" I crossed my arms and frowned at him. He ran a hand through his hair, the TV light casting a strange assortment of shadows.
"I don't get to see you very often, and I'm leaving on a long trip. I didn't think you would run off in the middle of the night." His voice was quiet, like the calm before a thunderstorm.
"So I can't leave to go to my job for three hours, but you can leave for three weeks for yours." The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. Owen's eyes went wide and then narrowed.
"That's not fair. My job is about the travel. I don't have a choice. I flew three extra hours just to get here, to see you. But you go do your oh-so-important extra shift, and I'll just sit here by myself. If I had known that you didn't want to stay with me tonight, I would have just stayed in New York."
"Hey, I'm not going in to work! How many times do I have to tell you that I told them no?" I could hear my voice rising with every word, a hot anger beginning to boil in my stomach.
Owen's shoulders sagged and weariness weighed on his body. "I'm sorry, Kaylee. I'm just exhausted, and I hate that I'm sleeping through our date night. This isn't what I had planned."
I sat gingerly on the edge of the bed, a hollow dread replacing the anger I felt. "Is it always going to be like this? Just random meetings in hotel rooms where we both are fighting with our schedules?"
Owen stared at the sheets in his lap, his brow furrowed. "I don't know, but I don't like how hard it is right now. I hate that I'm not going to see you for three weeks, and then who knows when we'll have more than a day together again."
I bit my lip and tried not to focus on the thick feeling growing in the back of my throat. I played with the cuticle on my thumb, the words coming out slow. "This isn't going to work between us, is it?"
Owen didn't answer. His hair was across his eyes, obscuring his face, but his silen
ce was all I needed to know the answer. Our worlds had collided, but they weren't meant to stay that way. Despite the feelings I had for him, our lives were just too different and too far apart for us to be together. Sure, we could keep trying, but at what cost? Eventually his traveling and my hospital schedule would just be too much to fight against and it would blow up in our faces. Better to end it now, when it wouldn't hurt quite so much. I knew the lie as soon as I thought it. It would hurt more than anything.
"I'll get my things," I said quietly, standing from the bed. His hand shot out and grabbed mine, keeping me near him.
"No, Kaylee. Don't go. Don't ever go." His voice was soft in the darkness. I realized I was trembling.
"Owen..."
"I love you, Kaylee." He said it simply, his voice soft. I felt my heart forget to beat. It no longer needed to. It didn't beat for me anymore anyway; it beat for Owen.
"I love you too, Owen." The words flowed out easily, my heart overjoyed. They were truer than anything I had ever said in my life. I really did love him.
"Come with me."
"What? What do you mean?" I sat back down. Owen's eyes were bright, a smile beginning to form around the edges of his mouth.
"Come with me on this business trip."
"I can't. You know I can't," I said, shaking my head.
"Why?" His eyes searched mine. "Money? Not a problem. Work? You can get the time off. Come travel with me. I'll even talk to your boss. I'm sure you can get the time off if I made a sizable donation to the hospital."
Fear lurched in my stomach. "I can't."
He peered at me, his eyes hopeful. "Why, Kaylee?"
I picked furiously at the cuticle on my thumb. If I kept this up it would bleed, but I didn't care. I took a shaky breath, embarrassed and afraid to tell him. "I hate flying. And I'm not good in strange places."
"You flew to Emma's wedding," he said encouragingly.