Rebuilding Valley View (Valley View Book #4)

Chapter 17

“Eek!” I probably look like some crazy lady that hasn’t seen her man in months or something, but the second I see Tyler in the Fargo airport, I am tempted to drop my luggage and jump into his arms. I control myself though, kind of. I pick up my pace and he meets me right past the baggage claim, picking me up and twirling me around before setting me down and planting a huge kiss on my lips.

“What’s up, Char?”

“Maybe you later?”

He throws his head back and laughs, “Later? Me now.”

I swat him in his chest and he grabs my hand and wraps it around his neck and I pull him down for another kiss. “Ready to head home?”

“Maybe stop to get something to eat first?”

“We can do whatever you want, baby girl.” Tyler grabs my luggage and we walk out to the parking lot where his truck is parked. When we get in the car there is a bouquet of flowers sitting on the passenger’s seat.

“Aww, Tyler,” I pick the bouquet up and smell them.

“I was going to bring them in with me, but it seemed super cheesy. I freaked out, couldn’t decide what to do, so I left them in here.”

I laugh as I smell the flowers again. He always picks out the best ones. I never thought I’d find a guy that liked to buy me flowers. I guess it helps when he has to walk by a flower shop to get to my apartment, but still.

We stop at a sandwich shop and have a late lunch. As we eat I listen to him tell me all about what happened while I’ve been gone. Listening to us talk you’d think I was gone for weeks or longer. I love listening to him tell me everything about his days.

Apparently, Taryn and Bobby are planning a co-ed baby shower and they wanted to know if I was going to be around in October still for it. I get kind of emotional thinking that they actually thought about me when they were planning. It reminds me that when I get back I’m totally figuring out a way to hang out with all the gals. I love seeing them when we go to Brown family functions, but something tells me they are even better without any men around.

Annabelle has a dance recital coming up this weekend. She wants everybody to come Friday AND Saturday. Tyler loves his nieces and nephews so much, it reminds me how hard I try to be around for my nephews’ things. 

I kind of start to feel guilty again. I’m enjoying things with his family, but missing out on things with mine. Then again, Dean and I left on such a sour note, I hate when we have one of our huge arguments.

“You okay over there?” Tyler calls me out.

“Hmm?”

“Looks like you’re having an internal fight.”

I put the remaining part of my sandwich down, feeling like I lost my appetite for now. “Oh, I guess I kind of am.”

“About what?”

“Oh nothing, we’re all good. Are you ready?”

“Yeah, let’s hit the road pretty girl.”

We’re about an hour into our drive when Tyler approaches the subject with me again. “So what was going on at lunch?”

“What are you talking about?” I say, in an attempt to deflect. I know Tyler better than that though. He isn’t going to let it go if he knows something was bothering me.

“The overthinking that you were doing, what was that all about?”

“Just thinking about how Dean and I left things.” I had called Tyler last night when I got back to the hotel from dinner. I didn’t tell him exactly what we fought about, just that we had an argument and that was how it ended. I didn’t want Tyler to know that we were fighting about him and I really didn’t want to talk about my past and Adam.

“Maybe give it a couple of days and reach out? I know my brothers and I get into fights all the time, but we always end up making up.”

“I guess I can try. I just wish I had more support from him and Quinn. I mean, Quinn isn’t that bad, but sometimes I don’t feel like his sister, just like an acquaintance.” Tyler squeezes my hand to offer comfort. He doesn’t say anything though, he is just letting me get my feelings out without trying to fix things or interrupt with advice.

“This is going to sound really stupid, probably, but I’m kind of jealous of the relationship that you have with your brothers and even with your sisters-in-law. You’re like, close and you all involve each other in things that are going on in your lives. I have never had that before. So what I thought was normal or whatever normal means was totally blown up when I met you guys. So then I go back and see my brothers and I’m trying to figure out what the fuck is wrong with my family.”

He pulls my hand up and kisses the back of it, “Well, my family is your family, baby girl.”

“I guess for now.”

“You know just because you’re not here anymore doesn’t mean that all the relationships you’ve built have to go away. Especially the relationship with me. I hope.”

One thing that Tyler and I are really great at avoiding is the conversation about our future. It is unspoken, but I start to wonder if maybe it is something we need to talk about. “How would that work? Would you want me to come back and visit or something?”

“A lot of people do long-distance relationships and they’re successful. Would it really be so horrible?”

“What? Horrible? Of course not.”

“Well, I don’t see a reason why that couldn’t work. You could come back to visit, I could go see you. I don’t travel much, but for you, I would.”

“Ty, Are you trying to say that maybe you’d want to keep whatever this is going even when I leave?”

“I don’t really know what I’m saying, Char. I just know that these last few days I’ve really fucking hated that you weren’t around. And all I could think about is that in way too little time you’re leaving for good and I’m not sure I’m ready for that. I’ve had a lot of time to think about ways we could still be us, even if we’re living apart.”

“I don’t know what to say, Ty.”

“You don’t need to say anything right now, Charlie. Just, promise me that you’ll think about us. I’m not going to be an asshole and beg you to quit your job and stay, but maybe we agree to try the long-distance thing. I’d rather try and have it not work out than never give it a chance.”

I slide my hand over and squeeze Tyler’s thigh. He lays his hand on top of mine and we interlock our fingers once again. For the rest of the drive home, we bring down the seriousness of the conversation a lot. What he said is still lingering in the back of my mind though.

Just having this conversation knows that we’ve crossed over from something casual to something way more serious. This is something I already knew but maybe didn’t want to admit to myself because that would make it real. There is so much on the line when it comes to this relationship. Is long-distance reasonable? Do I even want to go back to Wisconsin? These are probably things I should prepare myself for, but I’d rather continue to let them linger in the background and just enjoy my time with Tyler. Especially since he has quickly become my favorite person.