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Chapter 12
“Ithought you were driving up with Bailey?”
Nate looked at the time on his dash. Forty-five minutes. That had taken much longer than he’d expected it to.
When his grandma had called this morning to see if she could catch a ride up to the wedding with him, he knew that she knew he and Bailey weren’t driving together anymore. She liked Bailey, but she would have never “imposed” unless she’d been tipped off that he was going to be making the trip alone.
“I was, Nana. But, she decided that it would be better if we drove separately,” he told her something that he knew she was already well aware of.
“Trouble in paradise?” Nana asked.
“No. No trouble. Bailey and I are friends.”
“Friends? I thought you said that the two of you were dating?” Her tone was infused with faux-innocence.
Instead of once again answering a question that she already held the answer to, he kept his stare ahead at the road in front of him and said, “You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“Enjoying what?” Her faux-innocence morphed into faux-indignation. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He just grinned and continued driving. Nana was nothing if not entertaining.
“On a totally unrelated subject…” Now she sounded like the cat that ate the canary. “I saw our lovely new dentist this morning.”
Nana hadn’t even said Eliza’s name, yet his entire body came to life at just the vague mention of her. He’d tried to use these past two weeks as a sort of detox from her. He’d hoped that taking a step back would give him some perspective on the situation and he’d realize that although he may love Eliza, he didn’t even know her. At least not the new version of her. She was an adult woman, who’d earned her DDS, owned her own business and had been married. Twice.
But none of those things really defined who she was. She was still the girl that rubbed her thumbs along the pads of her fingers. She was still the girl that cursed when she forgot things. She was still the girl that instead of running from uncomfortable situations, she put on a forced smile and faced them. She was still the girl that made his heart expand so big it felt like it was going to burst out of his chest. She was still the girl that could level him with one look.
If anything, instead of the time apart giving him some clarity, it had just confused him further. And now he could say with full authority that absence does make the heart grow fonder. The past fourteen days had been a marathon of misery. He’d barely slept. Hardly eaten. And had not been able to stop his mind from obsessively thinking about her. About how different things would be if he hadn’t driven up to Whisper Lake on her birthday. If he hadn’t gone to bed when he couldn’t find anyone. If he hadn’t woken up to her naked body on top of him. If he hadn’t made love to her thinking it was a dream only to realize that it was real when she ran out of the room.
How different would things be if he hadn’t carried around ten tons of guilt and shame over the night that was simultaneously the best and worst night of his life?
But all the “what ifs” wouldn’t change the past. And since he couldn’t change the past, they didn’t have a future. It was that simple.
“Have you talked to her?” Nana asked, this time the question sounded genuine. It seemed the Queen of Gossip hadn’t been able to suss that one out.
Since she’d started this obvious fishing expedition playing dumb, he figured he’d turn the tables. “Talk to who?”
“You know who.” She swatted his arm. “Don’t sass me.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He couldn’t help the grin that pulled at his lips. He’d never be disrespectful to get a rise out of his nana, but he did enjoy seeing her in one. “I talked to her the day before I left.”
“Before you left to come home?”
“No, the day before I left for Michigan.” He’d never been to the Motor City but he’d always been intrigued by it since he’d grown up listening to Motown. Since he was working, he hadn’t been able to do much sightseeing, but next time he wanted to visit the Motown Museum.
“You haven’t talked to her for two weeks?” Her tone was reminiscent of when she’d found out that Neil hadn’t brushed his teeth for a month. Shocked and appalled.
“Before she moved back, I hadn’t talked to her for ten years,” he defended.
She looked at him as if the two were entirely unrelated. “What’s your point?”
“Why would I suddenly talk to her now?”
“Because she moved back to town. She’s your friend. And you’ve seen the error of your ways.”
This entire situation had thrown his mental predictive conversation completely out of whack. He hadn’t seen that answer coming from a mile away. “The error of my ways?”
“Yes. You let her get away once, granted it wasn’t that far. She was literally in your backyard with your brother. But now she’s back, she’s single and she’s in love with you.”
