Good Men Are Like Unicorns

Chapter 1:8: Let Her Go

Japheth

I peeled open my eyes slowly. The hotel room was dark, but I already knew I was alone.

She left.

Of course she left.

I kicked myself for falling asleep, but I hadn’t been sleeping well in general, and, well, one round with Regina was enough to knock me out cold. I groaned and rolled over to my back, staring up at the ceiling.

Reggie was like a wild horse. So strong, but so shy, and so determined to hang on to her freedom. If I chased after her, she would only run faster.

I sat up and scrubbed my hands over my face before I reached for the switch on the bedside lamp. As I expected, her clothes, which we had left scattered across the floor, were all gone. But mine remained, strewn about like a mad man had shucked them off.

I was a mad man.

What had I been thinking, taking Regina back to my hotel room? Did I think one more romp in the hay would magically make everything right between us? I had been offered up this amazing, random chance meeting, and instead of sitting down and talking to her like a grown adult, instead of proving to her that I was a changed man, I had done all my thinking with the organ between my legs.

The s*x had never been the problem. We hadn’t been able to keep our hands off each other since the time we hit puberty. The chemistry was always incredible. So incredible that no other woman could ever hold a candle to her. I’d tried dating a few times, but they were all boring. None of those women, no matter how pretty, or how nice, or even how naughty, had ever inspired me to take them back to my bed. Because none of them turned me on the way that Regina had.

The way Regina still did.

I raked a hand through my hair and started gathering my clothes. I put the suit back on a hanger, but the shirt…the shirt was ruined. I’d have to run out and find a replacement before the rehearsal dinner tomorrow evening. Just as I was about to stuff the shirt in the trash, I noticed the wadded up nylons in the bucket.

I almost smiled. I picked them out of the trash and held them up. They were nude, with a control top, and reinfoced toes. More functional than sexy, but Reggie could make anything look sexy.

Regina always did hate nylons. In fact there was a time she wouldn’t even be caught dead in a dress. She lived in cut off jean shorts and threadbare tank tops. She didn’t even wear shoes except in those locations where she was legally required to do so. And even then, I’m sure she’d run into Gus’s convenience store more than once in her bare feet.

She’d been a wild one.

I sighed and dropped the nylons back in the basket, and stuffed the ruined shirt on top.

And I’d been the fool who believed he domesticate her.

I walked to the shower naked, flipping on the too-bright lights, and squinting at myself in the mirror. I was looking a little rough. My hair was all flat against one side of my head, and I probably could use a haircut. And a shave. I turned away from the glare of the mirror and twisted on the shower. I adjusted the water to be just a fraction of a degree above freezing. I needed to wake up and clear my head.

I knew that Regina had moved back to Rutberg after she left New York. In fact, I’d been closely following her career since we divorced five years ago. At first, my pride and my ego had kept me away. I thought that she would come to her senses, sooner or later, and come back to me by herself. I thought for sure she'd find out that the glitz and the glamour couldn't satisfy.

But she didn’t come back. She didn't call, text or email, or even send me a message via pigeon. She was too busy climbing the coorporate ladder to miss me, it seemed.

Later, staying away from her was a sort of self-imposed penance. I knew she was happy and thriving without me. She didn’t need me to complicate her life, and I didn’t deserve a place in hers. I’d had my chance, and I had blown it. So I forced myself to just watch from afar as she followed her dreams and succeeded in all her goals. I was proud of her, and awed by her single-minded determination.

And sad that I wasn't a part of it.

But I had no plans of nosing my way back into Regina's life. She had clearly moved on, even if I was still hung up on the memory of us. Sometimes I imagined what it would be like to just casually bump into her at the supermarket. What if I just walked around a blind corner and our carts collided? I would look down in the cart, and see her favorite flavor of Ben & Jerry’s, and I would know it was her before I even looked up and stared into her beautiful amber eyes. I would smile, and ask her how she was doing. And then I would walk away, pushing my cart down the aisle.

Of course, that wasn’t likely to happen, since I still shopped at the mom and pop grocery near the lake. I rarely went into Rutberg, if I could help it. When I did, it was usually to go to Tractor Supply or the hardware store.

I showered and dressed, this time in casual jeans and a t-shirt. I stuffed my hands in my pocket and made my way to the front desk. I smiled at the woman who was manning the reception counter, knowing full well how to smile and disarm almost any female. “Good evening, ma’am. Could you tell me if Regina Coolidge has checked out?”

“Oh, um, yes I believe she did,” she said, looking around a bit nervously. She probably wasn’t supposed to give out any information about guests, but she wanted an excuse to talk to me. “She said something about an emergency.”

“Of course she did,” I mumbled, tapping my fingers on top of the desk.

Reggie had run away again. The question was, Did I let her go… or… should I finally pursue her and try to convince her to give us another chance?