Chapter Fifty
Jade
By the time I walked in the door of my house, I felt wrung out. The only good thing about dinner tonight had been seeing my nephew. And watching Adam dote on my sister; I’d loved that.
But things with Brian… that had been awful. We’d spent the last week laughing and talking like we’d been friends forever, and touching and kissing like, well, lovers. And last night, he’d walked across town to be with me.
Tonight however, he was distant and awkward. We’d gone from this morning deciding to keep things between us on the down low, to him saying we needed to cool it and date other people.
I felt like I had emotional whiplash.
I hung my keys up on the hook, kicked off my shoes, and headed toward the kitchen.
Penny Lane twined around my ankles, brushing against me until I crouched down and picked her up.
“Sorry, sweet kitty. I think it’s just going to be you and me from now on.”
The thought made me sad.
I couldn’t find it in me to be mad. I understood why he thought we should cool it. Heck, until two days ago, I wasn’t sure we should date once we got back to Haven Springs.
But then he had to go and ask, What if we did date once we got home? and that changed everything.
Except the media hounding us. Our names were all over the gossip sites, and HR had practically stamped don’t date Brian O’Shaughnessy across my forehead. Keeping our distance made sense.
It still hurt that he hadn’t even considered fighting for us, though.
I changed into my pajamas, crawled into bed, and punched my pillow a few times before laying my head on it. The sheets still smelled faintly like him. I closed my eyes and took a slow breath.
Tomorrow I’d go to work, keep my head down, and remind myself I’d survived worse.
Still, it stung to know he’d chosen safe over me.