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Much later that night, we sat naked in Delaney’s bed eating thick slices of homemade apple pie.
“Quinn?” Delaney looked over at me. She hesitated for a second, but then forged ahead. “What specifically were you talking about when you said nothing good comes from keeping secrets? That felt really, I don’t know—personal.” She paused, biting down on her lip.
I sighed, not wanting to go into details with her right now. It’d been a long day and I wasn’t mentally or emotionally up for this conversation.
“Nothing,” I said, shrugging.
“Something tells me that’s not exactly true.” She locked her eyes on mine.
I held her gaze for a few seconds, but stayed silent.
“C’mon. You said you don’t want secrets, so spill.”
I swallowed hard, annoyed. She had me.
“My last quote, unquote ‘real relationship’ ended because she kept secrets from me.” I took a shaky breath, my gut swirling just thinking about it.
“Who was she?” Delaney asked in a quiet voice.
I stared down at the dark blue and white quilt, noting the tiny flecks of green in the pattern.
“Her name was Julia. I’m sure if you ask around you’ll hear all about it.” I rubbed the raw callous I scored earlier today.
“I don’t want to ask around. I want to hear the real deal. From you.” She grabbed my hand, lightly tracing the sore spot on my palm.
I looked up, meeting her gaze. “It was a long time ago.”
“She obviously meant something to you. And hurt you bad enough to make you swear off legit dating. So what happened?”
I exhaled hard, my chest contracting at the memory. “She left me.”
“Why?”
“She got a better offer, I guess. She didn’t want to be ‘stuck in Peachtree Grove,’ as she put it. I honestly had no idea she felt that way until we got engaged.”
Delaney shot up, her eyes wide. “Wait, what?!? You were ENGAGED?”
I scrubbed the back of my neck hard. This was not how I wanted to end my Thanksgiving.
“Yes. Briefly. But like I said, she left. We tried the long-distance thing, but it obviously didn’t work out. End of story.” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“So she said yes, then just up and left? When? How long were you engaged? Where did she go? What happened?” Delaney asked all these questions rapid-fire, hardly breathing in between question marks.
I let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t know, Delaney. If you really want to know all the gory details, call her.”
“Sorry. I’m just,” she gnawed on her lip. “so confused.”
“You and me both. So that’s why I’d rather not have secrets. Obviously, Julia had a bunch, and I’m not dying to go through that again.” I sat up straighter in the bed.
Delaney nodded. “Sure, I can totally respect that.”
“Great. So, if you wouldn’t mind, let’s never get to that point, okay? If something better comes along, at least have the decency to give me a heads up.”
Delaney nodded, her blue eyes wide. “Of course. I won’t do that to you, Quinn, promise.”
“Great. We shouldn’t have any problems then.”
She leaned over, placing a soft kiss on my lips. “Deal.”
