“Mmmm, I beg to differ. I say I’ll hear from you before the week is out.”
I didn’t wait for her to fight me. I went over to the door, opened it, and stepped out into the hall and made my way over to a group of guys that I normally spoke with. It was only a matter of minutes before I saw Aurora come around the corner from the hallway. She glanced in my direction, looking like she was going to come over to me, but then she spotted the girl she’d been with earlier and pulled her off in the opposite direction. Now all I had to do was wait.
Chapter 8
Aurora
I made my way into Sip and Stir on my way home and grabbed a cinnamon scone and muffin. I sat down at an empty table and pulled out my notes from my last class.
I split the scone in half and took a bite and was about to open my notes and go over them when I caught sight of my brother. He pulled the door open, walked in, and went straight to the counter. After he’d placed his order, he glanced over his shoulder, surprise lining his face as he smiled. He thanked the girl and made his way over to me.
“This is a pleasant surprise. What are you doing here?” he said, sliding into the booth across from me.”
“Shouldn’t I ask you that? It’s not normal for you to be out here on the island.”
“No, it’s not. I have a work meeting not too far from here in about thirty minutes. So, I thought I’d come over a little early, stop at a couple of places, and then grab a coffee before I went.”
“A work meeting? Something going on?” I questioned.
He chuckled. “You know I can’t tell you anything about it.”
“I know.” I sighed, letting out a yawn.
“Everything alright? You look a little more tired than usual.”
I shrugged. “Everything is fine. I guess it’s just been a long week.”
I thought back to dinner the other night, when I’d first re-encountered Dylan. I didn’t even need to try hard, and I could still feel the same tension in my body when I’d met Dylan that night at Mom and Joe’s. I was sure everyone in the room had noticed it, even though I’d silently prayed for days that they hadn’t.
“Anything bothering you?” Walker questioned, looking at me with concern.
I shook my head and took another bite of the cinnamon delight, hoping I wasn’t giving anything away. Most of my life, Walker had read me like a book, so I didn’t know why I wasn’t just telling him the truth. “No, everything is great. Why do you ask?”
“I don’t know. You seemed funny the other night at Joe’s. Especially when Dylan arrived.”
I could feel a surge of heat run through my body. He had noticed, and now I wanted to die.
“What do you mean?” I questioned, trying hard to act like everything was completely normal.
“You seemed, I don’t know, weird. Almost like you knew him.”
I leaned back in the booth and sighed. There was no use keeping it from him. That statement right there told me he had already figured it out. Besides, we never kept secrets from one another.
“Okay, fine. Don’t freak out.”
“Why would I freak out? So you knew the guy, probably from Lorelai, no doubt. I mean, you two normally hang out at her brother’s house, so it wouldn’t surprise me you’d met him there.”
“No, I didn’t meet him through Phil. I met Dylan when we were in Mexico. We didn’t exchange names or anything. We just spent the night together on what I’d call an idiotic and irresponsible night on my behalf.”
“You’re shitting me?” Walked asked, looking up at me, his coffee halfway to his mouth.
I shook my head. “No, I went on a mission to be more like Mom. I wanted one night to get over Greg. It was dumb and stupid and something that never ever should have happened. Anyway, you can imagine my surprise when I saw him again.”
“You mean to tell me you didn’t recognize him?”
“Why would I? I don’t watch hockey.”
“No, but Lorelai does. Did she not recognize him?”
