29. Reading Way More Into This
READING WAY MORE INTO THIS
“ T hanks a lot, Mom,” Abe said when Daphne left a few hours later.
He was leaving shortly too and spending the night at Daphne’s since he’d be on the property tomorrow and working on the path closer to her house.
They would be finishing that this week and he was going to start digging to get the hardscaping around the cabin done.
They were moving faster than he thought. He would have loved to stay there all summer, but he had more work building up he had to get to.
“What did I do?” his mother asked. “I found her to be lovely. I’m so thrilled my boys both found wonderful women in their lives.”
“Your comment about me being with the person I deserve.”
He hadn’t talked about any ex with Daphne. They hadn’t had much of those conversations.
He knew she hadn’t dated much and she never asked about his past.
She was aware that he’d been with women who didn’t like what he did for a living or wanted him to be someone he wasn’t. But she didn’t ask specifics.
He didn’t volunteer them either.
Not that there were a lot.
Just Ella that was serious.
Until it wasn’t.
“That was a general comment,” his mother said, waving her hand. “She could have taken it as a joke between Laurel thinking Easton was Abe too. Remember I said you both ended up with who you should.”
“I guess,” he said.
“You’re reading way more into this than you need to,” his mother said.
“I don’t know about that.”
“Does she know about Ella?” his mother asked.
“Not her name. Just that I’ve had exes in the past and things didn’t work out.”
His mother shook her head. “You should tell her about Ella. At least some of it. It’s not a big deal.”
“If it’s not a big deal then why should I tell her?”
His mother crossed her arms. “Abe. Don’t be a coward.
It’s a small town and you’ve run into Ella twice.
She lives around here and knows people. People knew you were together.
You were on and off again a few times. Don’t you think she’d rather hear it from you than someone else? She’ll get the facts this way.”
His head went back and forth.
He didn’t appreciate being called a coward, but his mother wasn’t wrong.
It was an idiot stamp on his forehead right now.
The path of least resistance.
But his mother was right in that it was better coming from him than hearing gossip from other people.
Hell, Poppy probably knew about him and Ella. She’d commented on him going for the wrong woman.
“I’ll think about it,” he said. “You’re good here by yourself?”
“I lived in this house for years,” his mother said. “Just because you keep things in different spots doesn’t mean I can’t handle it. I can handle just about anything. You remember that. I raised you and Easton, didn’t I?”
“You won’t let me forget,” he said, smirking.
He went to his room, threw some clothes in a bag, and then drove to Daphne’s.
“Hi,” she said. “Was your mom upset you’re staying here tonight?”
“No,” he said. “I think she was ready to kick me out of the house.”
She laughed. “I think there comes a time when we are used to our space. Having guests isn’t always fun.”
He frowned. “Do you feel that way?”
“No,” she said. “Not with you. I meant family. I hated staying with Aster for a few weeks until this place was ready. He didn’t care, but I felt I was in the way.”
“I’m sure he didn’t feel that way,” he said.
“No,” she said. “And he’d go stay with Raine too. I made a bigger deal out of it than it was. I know that.”
“I find we do that in life,” he said.
“You can put your clothes in a drawer if you want,” she said.
She opened an empty one and he pulled out his clothes and put them in there. “I brought an extra change,” he said. “This way I’ve got clothes for another day. Hope that was okay.”
“Sure,” she said. “If you want, I can wash what you’re wearing today with my clothes tomorrow. Then you still have an extra set of clothes.”
He turned and smiled. “You don’t have to do my laundry.”
“Oh, I’m not offering to do your laundry. I’m offering to wash the outfit you’re in right now with mine. Nothing more than that.”
He closed one eye at her. “Heard. I don’t need someone to take care of me. Just wanted to let you know that.”
“I know,” she said. “The same here. But it’s being polite to offer and that is what I was doing. No reason to have you stuff them in your bag if they are dirty.”
“Good point,” he said.
He put his clothes away and turned to look at her. She was watching him.
“What’s going on?” she asked. “I feel like there is something you want to say but aren’t sure you want to say it. We know that isn’t like you.”
“No,” he said. “I’m trying to weigh my words.”
“That sounds bad,” she said. “Did I do something wrong? Or say something I shouldn’t have in front of your mother? She doesn’t like me, does she?”
“Stop,” he said, moving toward her. “Why do you do that to yourself? You think it’s you and it’s not. Come here.”
He pulled her into his arms. He should have realized she’d do that.
That she always felt she was in the wrong when she wasn’t.
Her self-confidence had been an issue even if it only showed glimpses of it at times.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I was so nervous about today. What else was I supposed to think?”
“You were supposed to think of what my mother said to you about me being with the right person.”
“Oh,” she said. “I did wonder about that, but it could mean a lot of things.”
Which meant he was overthinking it as his mother had accused him of.
“It could,” he said. “But I should tell you more about it. It’s a small area and I’m sure it could come up. There is nothing to hide, but I’d rather you heard the truth rather than gossip.”
“I’m not a big fan of gossip, but the fact you are worried about it tells me it’s important.”
“I’m not sure important is the right word,” he said. “No one wants to talk about their ex.”
She laughed. “I know you’ve been in relationships. You’ve told me you’ve had a hard time finding a woman who accepted what you did for a living. Personally, I think that is narrow-minded on their part, but it could be they couldn’t handle you joking all the time more than some dirty boots.”
She poked him in the side when she said that. “I’ve been told that before too,” he said. “Does it bother you? I’m not joking now. This is a serious conversation and I’m doing it.”
Even if he didn’t want to.
“It doesn’t bother me,” she said. “I think I need the laughter in my life that I didn’t get much of growing up.”
“I’m glad,” he said. “Are you happy?” he asked.
He knew he was being sidetracked, but he wanted to know the answer to that.
“I am,” she said, smiling. “Very happy here. With my job and with you. How about you?”
“More than happy,” he said. “Which was why I wanted to talk to you about this.”
Her head went back and forth. “Why don’t we go sit in the living room rather than stand in the bedroom? Am I going to need a drink with this? I can get you a beer. I do have wine that I haven’t opened yet.”
She was smiling so that was good at least. “I wouldn’t mind a beer, but the wine is up to you. I don’t think it’s a bad thing. Just talk.”
“Okay,” she said. She started to walk to the kitchen, but he stopped her.
“I can get my own beer. Just like I don’t need you doing my laundry, I don’t need to be waited on.”
“You like it when I’m in the kitchen making you food though,” she said, lifting an eyebrow.
“That’s different,” he said.
She shook her head at his grin. “Not really, but we’ll let you think that. Tell me what is going on in your head.”
“I’ve dated over the years. You know that. Just like I know you’ve dated too.”
“Yep,” she said. “Nothing super serious. A few months, if that. Sometimes they met my parents just because I lived at home, but it wasn’t a formal thing. I never had talks with anyone about moving in together.”
“Why is that?” he asked.
She shrugged. “No clue. They weren’t right. Or we didn’t hit it off enough. I worked a lot, as you know. Maybe if I had someone I lived with I wouldn’t have worked as much, but we never got that far either. It didn’t bother me so when things ended it just told me they weren’t the one anyway.”
He’d store that away for now. “The same here,” he said. “But I had one person I saw myself with in the future. Looking back now, it was never going to work, but in that moment, I saw it as I thought it could have been.”
“What happened?”
“Her name was Ella,” he said. “We dated on and off.”
“Meaning you were friends and then weren’t?”
He snorted. “I’m not sure we were ever friends.”
“Huh? How can you date someone and see a future with them and not even think of them as a friend?”
And that was where his mother was right once again.
“Which just tells you how wrong it was between Ella and me. We got along well, but we didn’t have a ton in common.
I know that now. She didn’t like the way I looked at the end of the day.
She sure the hell wasn’t going to kiss me let alone touch me until I showered.
Half the time she wanted me to half strip before I entered her house. ”
Daphne frowned. “Sounds prissy to me. Not to be mean, but that’s just rude. You take your shoes off and you knock off as much dirt as you can. I’ve never seen you be disrespectful of it in my house.”
“I’m not,” he said. “My mother asked my father and me to do that and we did. The first time I didn’t, she made me clean the floors so I could see how much of a mess I made that could have been prevented. Just like spraying the shower down after each time too.”
“I find it very considerate of you to do those things.”
“It’s a habit now. But Ella didn’t care about those things. She always wanted to go out to dinner, go on vacation or hang out with friends at their houses. She wasn’t one for doing too much outdoors. Not her thing to sweat or get dirty.”
“Guess she must work in a nice air conditioned office,” she said.
“That would be a yes. She’s a paralegal,” he said.
“Everyone does what makes them happy,” she said.
“I’ve learned that. We dated for about eight months.
Then she wanted some space. I wasn’t around much to do all those things she wanted in the summer.
I had more time in the winter, but she didn’t like the colder weather and felt like all we did was stay in her house.
My mother was still living with me, or rather, I was living with her. ”
“And it puts up walls in a relationship when you don’t live alone. I understand that.”
“It did,” he said. “Ella never asked me to move in. Maybe if she had I would have considered it, but all I could think of was stripping on the back porch every day and it made me feel like shit. That I wasn’t worthy to enter her home.”
“I’m pissed for you,” she said. “Did you ever tell her how you felt?”
“No,” he said. “I’m not sure she would have cared if I said I felt like a second-class citizen or that I was someone she was paying a service for and not the guy she was dating.”
“How did you end up together again?” she asked. “I can’t see you going back for more.”
“I was stupid,” he said. “It’s a small area. Not always easy to find someone to date. I don’t know. I can come up with all sorts of excuses or reasons, but it doesn’t matter.”
“No,” she said. “It doesn’t.”
“We were apart about six months or so. I don’t know.
Then we got back together again, lasting about five months and more of the same.
It was getting to me more the way she was treating me.
I couldn’t cut back my hours at work. I was running the business and people depended on me.
I think she just looked at it like it wasn’t that big of a deal. We were smaller back then.”
“Her loss,” she said. “My gain.”
“I love you,” he blurted out and then put his hand in front of his mouth. “Oops, that isn’t what was supposed to come out of my mouth.”
“I’m not sorry it did,” she said. “Because I love you too. Come here.”
He moved over and gave her a hug and kiss. “Really? You do?”
“I do,” she said. “I can honestly say I’ve never felt this for anyone else before. I know you most likely have and that is why we are having this conversation.”
“I thought I loved Ella. I really did. Which is why I took her back a second time, but it lasted less than three months. She wasn’t happy and neither was I. I felt like I gave it everything I had.”
“Doesn’t sound like she did the same,” she said.
“I’m sure her story would be different. Doesn’t that always happen?”
“It does,” she said. “But I only care about your side.”
“My side is, I ran into her a few weeks ago. I was getting a part for the lawn mower. I knew she was dating someone else. I’d seen them out months ago.” No way he was saying it was a week before his and Daphne’s night in the casino. “She looked happy and I was happy for her.”
“You were?” she asked. “Guess you’re a better person than me.”
He shrugged. “There was no reason to be a dick about it. We weren’t meant and that is how I look at it. If she’s happy, good for her. But as I said, a few weeks ago, she was getting plants. She called out my name. I didn’t want to talk to her.”
“Why did you?” she asked.
“Because I’m not a dick. I said a few words and tried to walk away, but she blocked me. She did that a lot. It was her way most of the time.”
“And you let her talk?” she asked.
“I did. For a minute. She commented about planting in the yard, that she had all this knowledge from me. It made me laugh. She never wanted to be outside to do anything like that.”
“She didn’t like to get her hands dirty?”
“No,” he said. “Then she said she heard my business was booming and she was happy for me.”
“Did you believe her?” she asked.
“I had no reason not to. Then I left. I got to my truck and realized then and there things happen the way they are supposed to. It’s you I love. You popped into my mind right away.”
“That’s very sweet,” she said, putting her head on his shoulder.
“I knew how much I felt for you. I hoped you felt the same way.”
“I just said I did,” she said, threading their fingers together.
He leaned down to kiss her on the top of the head. “I even thought I could teach you to plant. You know, get you some plants and give you a hobby.”
She jumped up quickly. “Really? That sounds like fun. Not that I can plant outside here, but I’d love some plants inside.”
He smiled. “Then we can go shopping for some this week. I’d love to give you a part of my world.”
“You already have, Abe,” she said softly.
Guess his mother was right. It was time for him to speak up.