Chapter Ten
CHAPTER TEN
NATALIE
The moment I wake up, the last twenty-four hours race through my mind. Guilt, relief, sadness, anger—they all hit me at once.
I roll to my back and look at the plain white ceiling, blowing out a breath.
Did I really walk out on my engagement party, and did my ex-fiancé really call me by another woman's name?
A name his mother always called me.
A name that clearly meant something to them.
Yes, yes it did happen.
I drape my arms over my eyes.
Fuck Griffin.
I can’t believe he fooled me as badly as he did. How was I so blind? How did I not notice or look for it?
The fact that Tobias didn’t even like him was a sure sign. Tobias likes everyone, but Griffin is different.
I try not to cry at how I’d told myself that Tobias didn’t like him only because he took up Tobias’s share of my attention, but turns out, Tobias was onto something.
I hear a noise from the kitchen.
I’ve been such a shitty friend for the last couple of days. I owe him an apology. A big one.
All thoughts of Griffin and my broken engagement vanish as I run my fingers through my hair and step out of my room to search for Tobias. I tug at the shirt he’d loaned me to wear. It barely touches my knees.
That said, this shirt smells like him, and having his scent surrounding me since the moment I got here last night … it’s exactly what I needed.
It’s calming having him this close.
Especially now.
I step into the kitchen, and Tobias looks my way instantly.
“Morning.” He smiles as he closes the refrigerator. “Did you sleep okay?”
“Mm-hmm, great.”
“Good to hear. So, um … ugh, I’ll just get right to it and ask: how much more does Griffin hate me?” Tobias whisks some eggs in a bowl.
That’s right. He doesn’t know that Griffin and I broke up. I was so caught up in getting to him and his reaction at seeing me after our fight that I didn't tell him. Last night there was a lot to take in. Now that my mind has had time to recoup and get rest, now is as good a time as any.
“That bad, huh?” he asks when I don’t say anything.
I sigh. “I don’t know. Not much more than he could hate me right now, but I don’t really care.”
It’s a weird feeling to not care. Hell, we were together for four years, but how it ended and the way he called me another woman’s name sort of released me from something. From the grief of what I lost. Because the way I see it, I didn’t lose anything. He did.
“He loves you, Nat. If he’s even a little bit mad at you, it’ll pass.”
“Sure. Sure. But we actually broke up last night when I walked out of the engagement party to come here.”
The whisk drops out of his hand into the bowl, the handle clanking against the ceramic.
“Holy shit, Nat.”
Tobias sets the bowl down and turns the burner off before he rounds the kitchen island and sits next to me. He scoots his chair close to mine and grabs my hand.
I can’t bother to look anywhere but at where our hands are laced together.
“Why didn’t you say anything last night?”
I shrug one shoulder and shake my head. “You had a lot going on.”
“I never have too much going on for you, Natalie. Never. If you need me, I’m there.”
I lean into him, and he wraps his arm around me.
“Fuck. I don’t even know what to say right now. How are you? What’s going on in your head? Do you want to talk about it? What did he say when you left? If he was dick, I’ll drive right back to Wind Valley as soon as Grandma Betty is home safe and kick his ass.”
This pulls a laugh out of me.
“You’re not a fighter, Tobias.” I grab his bicep and squeeze. “But you’d definitely win against anyone, not just Griffin.”
I say it as a joke, but the look in his eyes isn’t humor.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
I nod. “I feel horrible, Tobias. You tried to warn me, and I was”—here come the tears—“I was awful to you. I said mean things. I … I …”
“You do not have to apologize, Natalie. He was your fiancé, I understand that you had to believe him over me. Yeah, it sucked, but I thought you were happy, and I was going to just leave it at that.”
He’s too good to me.
“I feel so stupid.” I cover my face with my hands.
“You are not stupid. He’s an idiot.”
“He called me Nikki as I walked out the door and then tried to correct himself.”
Tobias has to take a slow and steady breath. “He’s an asshole.”
I nod with a small smile and then clear my throat. “Was he always like that?”
“He had a lot of people fooled.”
“But not you.”
“He did at first. I didn’t start to notice anything until you were engaged, and he wanted to rush it. I mean, you two were together for four years, and suddenly he’s in a hurry. It was odd to me.”
All I can seem to do is nod.
“Was I that blind, though?”
“You’re not blind. Do not for one second let that guy make you think less of yourself. He’s the one who is messed up. Not you.”
“Okay,” I say softly. I understand what he's saying, but it’s hard not to think I played a role in how he acted.
“Well”—Tobias jumps up, and my hands feel cold at the loss of his touch—“I think this calls for not my protein-packed scrambler as planned but for chocolate chip pancakes with?—”
“White chocolate chips,” I finish for him.
“Yep. It’s been years since we woke up in the same place and had breakfast together. I think we need all the goods.”
“All the goods?”
He spins to open the fridge and pulls out a package of round sausage patties. “Nothing beats these babies.”
“Oh, your grandma just so happened to have them thawed and ready to go.”
“Yes. For your information, we FaceTime breakfast three mornings a week, and on Sundays specifically, she always cooks them. There was no way she wasn’t prepared for today.”
My heart swells anytime Tobias mentions his relationship with his grandma. I swear, outside of the “I’m a romance writer” line that I thought was a pickup move, the day he told me he was going grocery shopping for his grandma, I swore he was finally hitting on me.
Turns out, he was 100 percent shopping for his grandma. It took only a few more times of Tobias just being Tobias for me to realize that he’s, without a doubt, one of the best people I’ve ever met, and his natural kindness is just that. He was never hitting on me. He’s just genuinely a good guy.
If I ever start to doubt that there are any good ones left, I just need to look at Tobias.
And I didn’t believe him. Wow. I’m a shitty friend.
Tobias is the best person in my life, and I want him to stay that way forever.
He starts to stir the pancake mix, and my eyes are drawn to way his arms flex as he stirs the spoon in a circle. I’ve seen his muscles before, but right now I’m drawn to them.
I can’t explain it, but watching him in the kitchen … he looks different.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asks.
“Huh.” He catches me off guard. “Sorry. I think I zoned out.”
He keeps his gaze on me for a moment longer.
“Okay. How many pancakes do you want?” he asks, cutting open the sausage.
“I think this is a two-patty day.”
He spins and points the spatula at me.
“Maybe even three.”
He returns to cooking, and I blow out a breath and hop off my stool to get my phone in the room I slept in.
Being around Tobias feels different right now.
Maybe it’s because yesterday I thought I’d lost him as part of life forever, but now I’m here with him and, despite my life-changing events, I couldn't be happier.
“Hey, Tobias,” I say, pausing in the doorway to the kitchen.
“Yeah?”
“Were you going to come last night?”
He turns to look at me.
“Yeah, I was. You’re my bestie, Dove. Your big moments are my big moments, remember?”
Dove.
My heart swells at the nickname I haven't heard in years.
I give him a single nod and then head for the guest room.
Truth be told, if there was any place I'd want to be after ending my engagement, with Tobias is the top spot.
I flip my phone over to see my notifications: Nora’s texts, missed calls from my parents and sister, about thirty missed calls and even more text messages from Griffin.
I delete them all without listening to the voicemails or reading his texts.
I toss the phone onto the bed and then lean back, cover my eyes, and groan.
“Why is this my life?” I say to no one.
“Because even in our thirties, we’re still trying to figure out this thing called life,” Tobias says in the doorway.
I jerk and give him a sheepish smile.
“I didn’t know you were into eavesdropping now.”
“I’m not.” He crosses his arms and leans against the doorframe. “I’m into making sure you didn’t come in here to cry on your own.”
“Oh. I still might.”
“Not alone.”
Well, hell, comments like that might be what sends me over the edge.
A subject change is very needed for me right now.
“So”—I start and hop to my feet, flicking my hand to the shirt he loaned me last night—“can I raid your sister’s stash of clothes now, and what’s the plan for today? When can we go get Grandma Betty? I can't wait to see her.”
He smirks and then tilts his head behind him. “Food first while it’s still warm, and then you can get ready.”
“And Grandma Betty?” I ask again.
“Is going to lose her mind when she sees you.”
His gaze slowly tracks over my body, and when it gets to the hem of his shirt, he clears his throat and snaps his gaze back to mine. “Let’s eat.”
We dish up and eat in silence.
He glances at me a few times, and you’d think it would be weird, because I know what he wants to talk about, but it’s not.
Nothing with Tobias is ever weird.
“How long are you planning to stay here?” I ask just as I finish clearing my plate.
“I’m not sure. I’m going to call Quinn later and see if she can come for a bit.”
I nod slowly.
Griffin and I were living together in his house, so I’m not sure where I’ll go or what I should do when I get back.
Ugh. There is so much for me to figure out from here.
“Tobias?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I stay here with you until you go back?”
His lips stretch into a grin.
“I wouldn't have it any other way.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
“And Natalie?”
“Yeah?”
“When we get back to Wind Valley, you’re moving in with me.”
I bite my lip before I smile. “Thank you,” I whisper.
He winks and then gets back to his breakfast.
God, I’ve missed him.
This.
Us.
That’s why this is exactly where I need to be right now.