Chapter Thirteen #3
Evie glanced around her house, and when her gaze returned to Rowan, her eyes held determination. She gave one nod. “I think that sounds perfect.”
Rowan took her bag back off the hook while Evie closed and locked her back door. A moment later, they were in Rowan’s car.
“I always loved this car,” Evie said as she clicked her seat belt.
“Yeah?”
“It’s very you.”
“How so?” Rowan started the engine and got them out onto the road.
“Well, it’s sporty, but classy. Reliable. Comfortable. Safe.” Evie smiled tenderly, then blinked several times as if realizing she’d said more than she meant to. She cleared her throat and finished with “It’s a good car.”
“I’m not sure how I feel about being comfortable, reliable, and safe instead of hot and sexy, but…” She shrugged as she shot a grin at Evie to let her know she was teasing.
“Oh, those are also included.”
The mischievous glimmer in Evie’s eye was not lost on Rowan, but she wasn’t sure what to do with it. Claire’s words, her raw emotion, were still hanging out in the back of Rowan’s head, and everything felt just the tiniest bit off. Trying to push all that away, she focused on driving.
Not long after that, they pulled into the parking lot of A Second Scoop, a little artisan ice cream shop they both enjoyed.
“Oh, I love this place,” Evie said, almost to herself.
“I know. I do remember that,” Rowan said.
Inside, the sweet scent of fresh waffle cones hung in the air, blending with the soft buzz of conversation from the handful of customers occupying some of the tables.
Evie inhaled deeply. “God, I love that smell.”
“Me too.”
A Second Scoop had been a place they’d frequented quite a bit during their time together, but neither of them mentioned that in the moment.
They pointed out different flavors on the menu board behind the counter, finally settling on their choices.
Shortly after that, they were holding their cones.
Mint chip for Rowan and berry crumble for Evie.
“Wanna sit outside?” Rowan asked. “It’s such a gorgeous evening.”
“Hundred percent. I could use the fresh air.”
The ice cream shop was tucked into a small corner of the parking lot of a larger mall, and there was grass and picnic tables alongside it, its own little picnic area.
They found an empty table and sat quietly for a bit.
Rowan had never found silence with Evie uncomfortable.
In fact, it was the opposite. Evie was one of the few people in Rowan’s life with whom she never felt the need to fill a silence.
There was never that scramble to have to say something.
She could sit with her own thoughts and emotions without feeling like she was ignoring Evie, and she had always been pretty sure Evie felt the same way.
They ate their ice cream, traded cones so they could sample each other’s, and watched a couple little kids, obviously siblings, run around and play.
“You seem a little far away,” Evie said softly after a while. “Everything okay?”
Rowan had been unsure about mentioning her run-in with Claire, but it had been sitting on her shoulders like a weighted blanket since it had happened. “Claire.”
Evie nodded and licked her cone.
“She said some things.” Rowan let those words dangle between them, and they did. Hovered like they were hanging from a drone above them.
Evie seemed to absorb that. She also didn’t seem surprised, but there was a glint of—was it worry?—in her dark eyes.
“I don’t think she likes the amount of time we’re spending together,” Rowan ventured. She wasn’t sure what direction this conversation would take, so she’d tread carefully.
Evie shook her head. “No.”
“Because she’s in love with you.”
Evie rolled her lips in and gazed off into the distance. It felt like a long time went by before she finally spoke. “I asked her to occupy me, to take up my time so I could get over you.”
While this fact didn’t really come as a surprise, Rowan still felt it pierce her chest, and she did her best not to flinch. “I guess it’s a good thing I don’t remember the majority of that time.”
Evie held her gaze for a heavy moment. “It’s so weird, isn’t it? How it all happened? I got sick and let you go and then you got in an accident and forgot about how I let you go.” She barked a laugh. “Nobody would ever believe it as a movie. Too unrealistic.”
That did bring a soft smile to Rowan’s lips.
“Never.” There was more she wanted to say.
More she should say. And likely a ton she didn’t remember.
But there was also something about sitting there with Evie, eating ice cream and watching little kids.
The breeze and the leaves and the impending fall.
Rowan didn’t want it to end, and she didn’t want to put a damper on all of it by continuing down this road of past emotions.
So she tucked those thoughts away for another day, another time.
For now, she was perfectly content and happy to be sitting on a picnic bench eating ice cream with Evie.
There would always be time for talking.