11. Pen
11
PEN
“ I can’t believe you’re leaving me,” Indie says around a bite of the burger in her hand. After two days of packing and closing my life down in the city, I’d given in and agreed to takeout at her apartment to celebrate.
Putting my resignation in at work had been harder than I thought, not because I loved the job but because I never reached my full potential—never gave myself the chance. My boss did say he’d write me a glowing letter of recommendation so that’s something.
“I can’t believe you slept with Beau Sterling,” I reply with a smirk.
“Girl, there is zero shame in my hook-up game; that man was incredible. ” Her voice is dreamy, and I narrow my gaze at her as I take a bite of my own burger.
“What’s that look for?” I ask, barely covering my mouth before I finish chewing.
This time Indie blushes and throws a fry at me. “What? We’ve been talking and he wants to come out here after the holiday rush is over.” She lifts one shoulder and lets it drop. “It will be much needed after having my parents here the entire month.”
“Where are your parents?” I ask, really noticing for the first time that Dottie and Wayne Kade are nowhere in sight and haven’t been all day. Dottie had wrapped me in a hug the second I’d walked into Indie’s apartment last night, elbowing my best friend out of the way in order to get to me first.
It made me smile and I’d collapsed into the older woman’s arms, soaking in her kindness and warmth until I felt some of the tension leave my body. It made me miss Oma and soothed some of the ache that came with no longer having my own mother here to comfort me.
“My brother paid for them to go do a couple of things in town and then got them a room for the night. He’s currently my favorite.”
I snort and nod. “I can’t believe he’s a dad.” Indie had dropped that bomb on me last night, and it had taken till right now to really let it sink in.
“Right? Mama was already halfway out the door when Jensen called,” she says with a laugh before dipping a French fry in her ketchup.
“Are you going home to meet the baby?”
“After the new year. My brother needs time to get settled, and besides, Mama is going to be a handful when she finally lands in Tennessee.”
“Your mom is amazing.”
“She is, but she’s a lot, and fussing over us is her love language even though my brothers and I are all grown.” Indie takes a sip of her beer. “Now that we’ve talked about me,” she says pointedly, “how are you feeling?”
“Do we have to?” I ask, scrunching up my face and making her laugh. “I’m relieved I’m not married and I’m sad I feel that way.”
The admission is raw and honest but nothing else—it just is.
“You were with him a long time.”
“Yeah, but seeing him yesterday was like waking up after being asleep. He’s not the teenager I fell in love with or even the guy I moved here with. I’ve been trying to figure out when it happened, when he became more interested in his career and making his mother happy than building a life with me.”
“What did Oma say?”
“That she never liked him but wanted me to be happy.”
“That woman knows everything,” Indie says, picking up her garbage and tossing it in the takeout bag. “What about Lake?”
“There’s been kissing,” I admit and she squeals, shimmying in her seat as she does a little dance.
“And?”
“And we’ve agreed to wait until Christmas to take it further.” I shrug like the statement doesn’t have my heart pounding in my chest. “I wanted sooner and he wanted to wait, so Christmas was the compromise.”
“And when you say further…”
“Everything,” I tell her, my voice steady. “I should have been marrying Lake on my wedding day.” I look away, tears welling in my eyes because this hurts more than not marrying Carter.
“Well,” Indie says with an amused lilt to her voice, “ I appreciate you sacrificing yourself so that I could have a truly unbelievable weekend with the eldest Sterling brother.”
“You’re welcome.” I chuckle, blinking back tears and so damn grateful for the woman in front of me. “And thank you, for everything.”
“Always, babe. But next time,”—she points an accusing finger at me—“I better be your maid of honor.”
“I’ll make sure of it.”