"Golden Texas Tea" (pg 15)

"Good. Here's your key. Where you'd park?" She told him. "Pull out and head to the right, then go all the way to the rear. Room number is 524, on the second floor. Have a nice stay."

"Thanks, I will." she said over her shoulder as she left the lobby and walked back to her car. Stepping outside, she was met with a very cool breeze blowing across the lot, which felt luxurious but also left her feeling melancholy, like something was pulling her to an empty sea of nothingness.

Jumping into the car, Azalea followed the clerk's directions and in no time at all, was pulling into a space near the room. Rolling the windows up, she popped the trunk before stepping out into the cool summer twilight.

Inhaling the clean country air, she became overwhelmed with the sad memories of days gone by. Whether it was because of homesickness or the fact that she wasn't with Walter, Azalea really couldn't say, but within a few minutes of taking in the spectacular view, she started crying. Not heavy, but lightly silent, like the morning mist on a cool summer day.

Walking back to the fence so that she could get a better view of the scenery, Azalea dried her eyes while trying to convince herself that nothing was wrong. Look, get a grip on yourself. There is absolutely nothing wrong going on in your life right now that you should be crying about. Nothing. Sure you miss your husband, that's only natural. Sure you're homesick. That's only....only.... Her pep talk came to sudden halt as the floodgates opened and she experienced a public meltdown.

Running back to the car, she grabbed her luggage from the trunk, while trying to stem the tide of tears long enough until she got back to her room. Quickly running up the stairs, she unlocked the front door and chucked the luggage across the room. Slamming the door and locking it, she crashed on the bed to finish her meltdown.

Twenty minutes in, her cell phone rang. Flipping the cover, Azalea saw it was Walter's number. Pressing 'talk', she yelled in between sobs, "I'm not ready to talk to yet!!!", before slamming the cover closed.

Fifteen minutes after that, she was able to calm down enough to carry on a normal conversation with Walter. Drying her eyes, Azalea grabbed her cell and went to the balcony, to get some fresh air and regroup a little more before calling Walter back.

Flipping the cell, she saw a voice mail waiting for her. Punching the various buttons to access it, she soon heard a very animated Walter leaving a very provocative message. Blushing deeply while listening, Azalea couldn't help but smile over what he had said. Hanging up, she was finally ready to give him a call back.