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“What are you gonna do about—” She stops short of saying Colin’s name as she jerks a thumb in the direction of the family room.
“I’m going to have to let him down gently. What other choice do I have?”
She nods. “Best wishes with that.”
I offer her a smile as I run a brush through my hair. “Thanks.”
“Are you going to tell him about Grayson?”
I shake my head. “I’m not planning to. It’s unrelated, and I feel like it’ll only hurt him when it doesn’t matter. We were broken up, and I don’t want to go back. Especially not now that I’ve opened up a whole new world.”
“Smart move. You got this, bestie.” She leans in to give me a hug, and I draw in a deep breath before I head back out to face my ex.
Chapter 13: Ava Maxwell
Welp…This is Gonna Get Awkward.
I slide into the passenger front seat of Colin’s rental car.
That’s the car parked at the curb.
Colin grew up in Iowa and wanted to go to a school with a renowned business program. The University of Nevada Las Vegas was where his cousin went, and his cousin talked him into it even though Vegas generally doesn’t fit with Colin’s personality. Maybe it’s why I so strongly felt the need to stay here even when he left. Maybe I fell in love with Vegas more than I did with Colin.
Welp…this is gonna get awkward.
I can’t exactly tell him that, but he’s here to win me back. To…get me to move to Chicago?
It’s not going to happen.
If I wanted to go to a big metropolitan area with icy cold winters and humid summers, I’d go back home to New York. But I don’t want to go home to New York. I want to stay right where I am. Here I have no snow, hot summers, hotter men, and friendships to last the rest of my life.
And I also have that feeling like this is home. This is where I belong.
As I glance over at Colin while he navigates to some restaurant, I realize how very much he is not home. That’s what someone who is husband material should be, and he isn’t it…not for me, anyway. I’m sure he’ll make someone in Chicago very happy.
“How’s work?” I ask awkwardly, trying to fill the silence with his favorite topic, and he flinches.
“Of course that’s where you start,” he mutters.
“Excuse me?”
He sighs. “I don’t want to fight. It’s not why I came here.”
“Then why did you come, Colin?”
He slams on the brakes as the light turns from green to yellow. “Let’s just talk at dinner. I need to focus on getting us there safely.”
I shouldn’t be surprised. He was really never one for multitasking.
He pulls up to an Italian restaurant fifteen minutes away from home. There’s a short wait, and he orders a beer once we’re seated.
I opt for water.
While alcohol would definitely help the terrible awkwardness of this particular date, I need a night off.
He raises a brow but doesn’t say anything, and I’m not sure how to take that. I focus on my menu, suddenly sure I want to gorge myself on Italian food. I spot a pasta trio that sounds perfectly delightful, and while it’s normally something I’d avoid since pasta tends to settle right on my hips, I decide to order it anyway.
And I attack the breadsticks the second they’re delivered to the table.
