Chapter 15
fifteen
The house was dark and silent when I finally made it home. As much as I wanted to crawl into bed and hibernate until Monday, I’d made a promise to Ava. Based on her lack of text messages, her date was likely going well. I quickly changed into my comfiest pajamas and grabbed a bottle of wine and two glasses. I set them out on the table in the shared living space between our two bedrooms. Then, I grabbed a book and a blanket and curled up on the couch. It was just after eight, so I had a few hours to collect my thoughts before she got home. Tonight was going to be about her, not me.
I opened the book and settled back into the cushions. I read the first paragraph and then reread it. After my fourth attempt to comprehend the basic words and sentences on the page, I slammed the book closed. I had no idea what I’d just read, but I could now recite my entire conversation with Tripp verbatim. It played on a loop in my brain—over and over. With each replay, my heart felt as if it had doubled in size. Is this how the Grinch had felt? Warm and fuzzy and optimistic for what was to come.
“Sadie? Are you home?” Ava called up the stairs.
“Up here!” I yelled down. I threw the blanket off of my face and picked up my book. I'd blame it on the book if she noticed I’d been on the verge of tears. “I have the wine ready!”
“How’d you know it wasn’t a pint of ice cream date?” Ava asked when she reached the top of the stairs.
“You didn’t send a single text or beg me to rescue you.”
Ava let out a long, exaggerated sigh. “I think my mom might have found a good one. His name is Heath.”
The grin that spread across her face when she said his name told me a second date was already planned. I couldn’t help by smile along with her. If anyone deserved a happy ending, it was her. Ava had the biggest heart and had so much love to give. I considered myself lucky to be on the receiving end of so much of it.
“He’s an architect and fosters senior dogs. He’s sarcastic and freaking hilarious. My abs are going to hurt tomorrow from laughing so hard.”
“What did you guys do?”
“We got dinner at a taco truck and then had ice cream while we walked the riverfront. He’s an only child like me and eventually wants a house full of kids.”
“Just like you.”
“Yeah,” she said, swooning a bit. “He owns a house in Wilson County and spends his weekends helping his dad restore old cars.”
“He sounds like he checks off all your boxes.”
“He does, Sadie. I mean, I feel like we just clicked. There was instant chemistry.”
“Did you get a goodnight kiss?”
Ava blushed and nodded. “More sparks.”
Seeing her this happy eased every ounce of tension from my body. I giggled. “Aww, yay! When do you see him again?”
She glanced down at her phone and smiled again. “He just texted to make sure I made it home.” She typed out a response, and the smile stayed plastered in place. She was smitten. “Next week. He suggested tomorrow, but I didn’t want to interrupt his time with his parents. His mom is getting her garden ready for planting season.”
“I’m so glad you had a good night.”
“So, what did you do tonight?” She waggled her eyebrows. “I noticed you didn’t text me either. Did you and Tripp do anything?”
“We went to a barbecue place and grabbed dinner,” I said. I knew without a doubt that the grin on my face looked exactly like the one Ava had when she told me about Heath. She noticed, too.
“And?”
“And you’re right.”
“I’m sorry, what? Can you repeat that? Maybe let me get it on video.”
I playfully slapped her arm. “No, and I’ll deny it if you try to use it against me later.”
“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes and asked, “Well, what happened?”
I gave her the Cliff’s Notes version of the conversation we’d had. Including the part where I told him everything that happened with my parents and Gran. As I spoke, my thoughts began to spiral out of control. I let the doubt creep in and remined me how horrible of an idea this actually was.
“What am I going to do?” I asked and looked at Ava. “Why do I do this? It's a terrible idea, right? I’m going to mess this up and then we’ll be done for. I’m like relationship repellant.”
“No, you’re not. You’re guarded. But, hey, you opened up to someone tonight. That’s hard and brave. I don’t think you need to do anything tonight, and I know you didn’t scare him off. He doesn’t seem like a man that is easy to scare. Eat, drink some wine, and watch a movie. I’ll pick so you don’t have to think about it.”
“Can we still talk about your date and how amazing Heath is?” I truly wanted to hear all about it. Being happy for her would distract me from the disaster that was my life.
“Deal.”
While she got up to get the remote, I pulled out my phone to find a message from Tripp. I had fun tonight.
I smiled and replied, I did too.
I was tempted to beg him to forget everything that had happened tonight and ask him if we could go back to being friends and stick to a professional relationship, but I wasn’t sure that was what I wanted. But I couldn’t think about that now. I didn’t want to think about anything. Thankfully, Ava picked a comedy that didn’t involve romance or a heavy plot. There was one more thing needed to do to clear my mind.
“Before you start the movie,” I said, standing up, “can we draw the next challenge? I don’t want to have to dread it over the weekend.”
“You sure? Won’t drawing it make you dread it more?”
“Nope. Not knowing is way worse.” I got up and ran downstairs to grab the hat from my office. All the while silently praying, please let it be something tame and not at all romantic. When I got back upstairs, I held out the hat for Ava. “You draw this time.”
“Should we set up the camera?” I shook my head. There’d be plenty of content without it. There always was. She dipped her hand into the hat and shuffled through the slips of paper. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for her to read the next challenge. “Ohh. This should be fun! Kayaking!”
Fun? It was like she didn’t know me at all. “Cool,” I said casually. “Well, let’s get this movie going.”
I grabbed the wine and sat back on the couch, vowing to shut my brain off completely. I took all my thoughts of Tripp and the replays of the evening, along with the future dread for the kayak trip, and tucked them into my mental box. Once I closed the lid and shoved it deep, deep in the mental drawer, I left it there and focused on the movie.