Chapter 47
FORTY-SEVEN
“I’ve never been one for making dinner. I have no problems making reservations, though.”
—excerpt from the unpublished memoir,
Darling, I Must Say by Gloria Hayes
“What just happened?” I stared at the door the Mae–Allie Tornado just left through.
“I think our sisters just declared war.”
“Because of us?”
“Because of what they think is happening between us.”
The three men pretending to play dominos were sneaking glances our way. I scowled and pulled Abe to the closet.
“Isn’t something happening between us?” I asked once we’d closed the door behind us and snapped on the light.
He tilted his head, his gaze meeting mine head-on. “What do you want to happen?”
My heart raced with fear, but more than that, hope. “I took a huge risk last night. I’ve never done that before. I’ve never met anyone I wanted to take a risk for.”
Even Aidan. Everything had been easy with Aidan.
I held my breath. We were so close, but we didn’t touch, not a brush of our shoulders, not a soft touch on a hand. It would be an easy thing if one of us moved even an inch.
His phone vibrated. The screen read: DAD. He sent the call to voicemail.
“You think he’s heard about…”
“That photo? Us? Oh, yeah, they already know.” He cradled his head in his hands. “I’m a grown man and yet every time I talk to my dad, I feel like a dumb teenager who’s screwed something up.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“It doesn’t matter. He’ll think I did. Things have gotten better between us, but I know in the back of his mind, he’s waiting for me to mess up.”
“You aren’t a screw-up,” I said fiercely.
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes, Iris. A lot. Maybe Mae’s right. You are young. You do have your whole life to figure out. I have a daughter and a business and all the things you don’t have to deal with yet. It feels almost”—he searched for a word—“selfish of me to let something happen between us.”
The surge of anger surprised me. “I thought we went over this last night. I am tired of everyone else deciding what’s best for me. I can make my own decision. My decision is you.”
“That’s the thing. My decisions don’t just affect me. Look at how Mae and Ali just reacted. Now imagine everyone in this town doing the same. You may be leaving town in the next month. I don’t see a way this works out.”
“So that’s it, then? You’ve decided. We’ll just forget all this. No problem.” I wrapped my arms around my body, feeling small. “You aren’t any better than Aidan then.”
Abe turned those stupid, beautiful light brown eyes on me. I wanted to believe what I saw in them—a yearning, an ache, and something else that made my idiot heart thump so hard, it felt like it was trying to leave my body.
His gaze roamed over my face, my eyes, the freckles on my nose, my mouth, slowly, carefully, like he was taking a photo with his mind. Then he smiled sadly. “I wish things were different.”
Before I could reply, he left. With a frustrated sigh, I marched into the tiny back room, dug through my purse for that ridiculous bag of chocolate kisses, and threw them in the trash.
Because sometimes not even chocolate made things better.