Chapter 14
Erin
“Tell me again how you ended up at dinner in Minneapolis with your sister’s ex?” Monica said, crossing her legs and tilting her head to the side. She looked at me, half confused and half concerned—maybe with a hint of excitement.
My chest fluttered thinking about it. I had been home for less than forty-eight hours, and I already wanted to go back. “He invited me. At first, I told him no,” I said, shrugging. “I showed up anyway though.”
“You showed up at the restaurant?” She tried to hide the judgment in her voice, but she failed. Her normally neutral tone was laced with skepticism.
I giggled, remembering the look on his face when he’d turned around in his chair. “Yes. Isn’t that wild?” Excitement prickled my skin, and I grinned. “It was really fun. He’s such a great guy.”
Monica tapped her fingers on her knee and sighed quietly. “Did you sleep with him?”
“Yes.” I nodded, feeling my cheeks warming. “It was kind of mind-blowing too.” I bit down on the inside of my lip. I couldn’t believe I was admitting that to my therapist.
When she sat forward in her seat, dropping her foot to the ground and planting both hands on her knees, my stomach sank. Monica looked at me with warning in her eyes. “You need to be careful, Erin.”
The flutters in my chests moments earlier dropped to my gut. “Why?”
“He’s your sister’s ex-boyfriend. What if she finds out?” Monica’s stare was serious, her brow furrowed with worry.
I shrugged, swallowing the urge to feel defensive. “Liz is the one who cheated on Jacob. He’s a really great man, and it would serve her right to see him happy with someone else.”
“Someone else like you?” She wasn’t hiding the judgment in her face anymore—or maybe it was just the kind of concern someone you’d told all of your problems to for five years would have when they thought you were about to ruin your life. Or whatever she thought I was doing.
“Yeah, maybe. Would that be such a bad thing?” What was I saying? The room around me felt like it got smaller. It was just supposed to be the one time, and then there was dinner and then the balcony. My mouth dried out. Was Jacob as hung up on me as I was him?
“Just be careful,” she said, standing up. That was her indication that my session was over, and I felt a slight rush of relief. “I’d hate to see you get hurt.”
I smiled at her, nodding. “I’ll be okay.” I think.
My condo felt quieter than normal, even with the heavy roar of traffic and horns on the city streets beneath me. Normally I would tune the sound out, but instead, I opened the window. The cold air that rushed in caused goose bumps to rise on my skin, and I thought about Jacob’s fingers brushing over them on the hotel balcony. I took a deep breath, wrapping my arms around myself.
Then I pulled my phone from my pocket, finding his name and hitting the button to start the call. When the first ring echoed back, my heart raced. On the second ring, I considered hanging up. What if he didn’t answer? Before the third ring, the phone clicked.
“Well, hey, red.” Jacob’s voice broke the brief silence, and butterflies danced in my chest.
“Hey,” I said, my voice catching in my throat. I cleared it.
Jacob chuckled on the other end of the line. “What’s up?” He wanted to know why I was calling. I didn’t even know.
“I—I don’t know.” I giggled, and my cheeks warmed. I stepped back in front of the window, hoping the breeze would cool me off. It didn’t, and I could hear my heartbeat in my ears.
“I think you just missed me.” He sounded amused. Did I miss him? I already knew I did, but I didn’t want to admit it. I wasn’t supposed to want him this badly. “I’m right, aren’t I?”
“I guess I just wanted to hear your voice.” I sucked on my lip, pulling it from my mouth with a quiet pop. “Is that dumb?”
Jacob sighed, and when he spoke again, his voice was low and comforting. “It’s not dumb. I missed you too.”
I gasped. “You did?”
“I did.” I could hear the smile in his voice, and I knew without being able to see his face the little dimples in his cheeks were popping. I longed to see the way his beard would twitch when he smiled wider. “So how about that dinner, huh?”
“What dinner?” I thought back to the dining room at Twin City Bistro.
Jacob’s voice was quieter, almost like he was whispering in my ear. “I promised you dinner at your place. I’m cooking. Unless you’ve changed your mind.”
Dinner at my place sounded great. It sounded even better when he was the one cooking. “When?”
“Tomorrow. I’ll be there at six,” he said. I scanned the room, already feeling the need to scramble and tidy up.
“I’ll see you then.”