Nadine sighed as she threw her keys down on the table near the door of her apartment. She lived in an apartment building a few blocks from the hotel where she worked. Ever since that last night with Taylor two weeks ago, the days had been longer and everywhere she looked she saw somthing that reminded her of him. She had even been forced to clean the room he had stayed in.
It wasn't like she didn't hear from him. He called almost three, sometimes four times a day and left hangups on her answering machine. She had been home many of those times, and she knew she wanted to pick up the phone, but she wasn't quite ready to admit it to herself yet.
She could just lift up the phone and talk to him, but it would only make it harder for her, and he wasn't what she needed at that time.
Nadine was sitting in her living area later that night, watching TV. She lived alone in the apartment except for her calico cat, Cupcake. She patted his head as she watched Jay Leno. She had the next day off, so she wasn't in any hurry to go to bed. She heard the phone ring on the table beside her.
She looked over at it as the shrill ring pierced the air. For once though, Taylor didn't hang up.
"Nadine? Are you there? You've got to be. I've called the hotel and they tell me you're at home." he said. "If you won't pick up the phone and listen to me, I'll just tell you here." Taylor said. He paused, then continued.
"I'm really sorry about what happened. I never meant for it to, and I am sorry." He said. "But there is one thing that i'm not sorry about....it's the fact that I met you. You made me realize that i've got to change my life for the better. I see now that i'm a man, and I've been acting like a child my entire life. I'm sorry that what happened between us happened, but I think that was beyond our control." He said. "I hope you can forgive me someday, because I really would like to see you again, Nadine. You're a good person. you've helped me so much, and I am sorry. I'm sorry for drinking, i'm sorry for yelling, and i'm sorry for hurting you." he said, his voice catching in his throat. "Just talk to me." he said. There was a long pause. "I see that you're not going to, and I can't say that I blame you." he said. "That's okay though, I deserve that....I'll be at my house in Tulsa until the day after tomorrow, then i'm leaving for a few weeks on tour." He said.
He gave her the number and address to his house, then he sighed. "I just want to talk to you." He said. Nadine could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She reached for the phone and picked it up, but he had already hung up. She listened to the dial tone for a few seconds, then let the phone drop back down to it's cradle. She curled up on her couch and started to cry, no stopping for a long time.