6. Wes
Chapter six
Wes
“I still think this is a bad idea,” Holt says from his seat next to me on the couch.
“It’ll be fine,” I tell him without any hesitation.
Hadley needed my help, so of course, I’m going to help her. Plus, it’s an excuse for me to touch her, to keep her close to me. So hell yes, I’m going to take advantage of that.
“You sure you two can pull this off?” Holt asks.
“Yes. Stop worrying. Please.”
Before he can say anything else, Hadley walks into the room. She’s gorgeous. I mean, I’ve always thought that, but right now, with her blonde hair that hangs just past her shoulders in soft waves and wearing a floral sun dress that accentuates her curves, she’s even more beautiful.
A throat clearing has me blinking out of my Hadley Jane-induced daze, and I let my gaze trail over her one more time before lifting my eyes to hers.
She tucks a piece of hair behind her ear, shifting on her feet.
I frown. She doesn’t seem confident the way she usually does, and I hate it.
I hate that she’s doing this to herself.
I get to my feet and walk over to her. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
She swallows, her eyes darting around the room before they meet mine again. “I told him we’d be there, so we’re going.”
“We could make an excuse. Tell them I got sick. Or something came up,” I offer. I don’t like that she’s going even though she clearly doesn’t want to.
She shakes her head. “No, I need to do this.”
“Okay.”
If that’s what she wants, then I won’t leave her side. I’ll be there one hundred percent of the time, so she doesn’t have to face her ex alone.
We say our goodbyes to Holt and Becca, Hadley’s parents having gone out for the evening to play cards with friends, and head out toward Momma Abbott’s car, which she kindly let us borrow tonight. I help Hadley into the passenger seat before going around to the driver’s side.
“I don’t understand why you won’t let me drive,” Hadley grumbles as I adjust the seat and mirrors. “I know where things are. Where the shortcuts are.”
“Because I want to arrive there alive.”
“I drive Hazel around all the time. I’m a perfectly capable driver.”
“Sure. Then why did I see a new dent in Holt’s truck the last time I was over at the house?”
That shuts her up, and I grin, pulling on my seatbelt before plugging the address of our destination into my phone. When the GPS starts to talk to me, I put the car in reverse and start driving.
“Tell me about your ex,” I say, breaking the silence.
Hadley sighs.
“We met through friends at a party a few years ago. We bonded over the fact that neither of us wanted to be there. He was easy to talk to. We were both kind of lost about what we wanted to do with our lives. His parents were pushing him to go to medical school and become a doctor, but he didn’t want to, and I just didn’t know what I wanted to do. ”
“What happened? Why’d you break up?”
She blows out a breath. “He figured his life out after we’d been dating for a couple of years and thought I needed to grow up and get a real job.
His words, not mine.” I glance over to see her picking at her nails.
Shit. “When I first talked about wanting to get into photography professionally, he thought it was cool and encouraged me to do it. His support only lasted so long. I started finding brochures in my car, around his place, and at mine, for universities, teaching schools, hell, even one about becoming a dental hygienist, which, eww, no thank you. I ignored them, hoped he’d eventually get the hint that I wasn’t interested.
Then he told me he was moving to Vancouver for a job.
Asked me to go with him.” She pauses. “And then proceeded to tell me about the great trade schools in the area. I wasn’t interested. ”
“In him or in school?”
“Both. I broke up with him. I couldn’t be with a guy who didn’t support my dream.
He kept pushing me to do what he wanted.
Told me I could still be a photographer, as a hobby.
All because my dream wasn’t happening on his timeline.
” What the literal fuck. “He couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that I had no interest in going back to school or getting an office job.
Instead of supporting me the way he did in the beginning, he wanted me to change.
Just proved that he wasn’t the guy for me, and I clearly wasn’t the girl for him.
” She sounds sad when she says the last part, and I hate it.
We’re silent for a few minutes as I focus on navigating the roads and following the directions.
“Why are you so nervous?” I finally ask.
She blows out a breath. “Because what if he’s right? What if photography should just be a hobby?”
“I don’t think—”
“Every time I pick up my camera, the photographs aren’t great. I’ve been trying to edit the ones I took in Vegas, photos I took for fun, photos that should be easy to edit, but I can’t. I think I’m losing my touch.”
“Maybe you’re not taking the right pictures? Or putting too much pressure on yourself to get them perfect?”
She scoffs but doesn’t say anything, and I wonder if I crossed a line. I didn’t mean it in a bad way, and I start to tell her that, but she interrupts me.
“I think we should keep things as truthful as possible.” Guess we’re changing the subject. “We’ll tell them we met through Holt and we’ve been dating for a while now. You came home with me for part of the summer and proposed. My ring is at the jeweler’s because it didn’t fit.”
“I’m good with that.”
“I doubt people will ask much about it, but just in case, I wanted to make sure we had our story straight.”
“Makes sense.”
“I don’t even know who’s going to be there. I’m not close with many people from here anymore.”
“Why’s that?”
“We grew apart, I guess. Most of them are married or in committed relationships, and it was always hard to be the third wheel, you know?”
“I most definitely do.” Thankfully, a few of the guys that I’m close with on the team, like Elias and Sebastian, are still single, but it is getting lonelier and lonelier in the off-season.
I put on my turn signal and pull into the parking lot of our destination, and damn, it’s crowded. The building appears to be a community center or lodge of some sort, and since there’s nothing else here, I’d say all of these cars are for the party.
“Should we have a safe word?”
“A safe word? We’re going to an engagement party, Weston Albert. Or did you forget?”
“I didn’t forget, Hadley Jane. And that is not my middle name. I just thought if you wanted to leave, you could use it, and then I’d know. Something like ‘banana’ or ‘kumquat.’”
“Kumquat? Really, Weston. When would I ever use that in a sentence? I’m in the mood for some kumquats. Anyone got any kumquats?”
I chuckle, parking the car. “Fine, what do you suggest?”
She taps her chin. “How about I cough three times in a row?”
“Three coughs. Got it.”
I turn the car off and open my door, putting on my game face.