Carrying the plate of cookies, Nate followed Lily to the library. She settled into the chair he'd vacated earlier and leaned forward, bracing her forearms on the desk. As she stared at the screen, he tried to explain what he'd been doing. He leaned close to point to the screen and got a whiff of something light and floral. It was hard to keep his thoughts on the business at hand when all he could think about was how he’d loved to run his fingers through her hair. It had been like fragrant silk, smooth and soft in his hands.
Pulling his thoughts back to the laptop, Nate said, "The biggest pain about trying to do this is having to flip back and forth from the pdf file to the accounting program. If they could just be side by side, it would make things a lot easier, but the screen just isn’t big enough."
"You need a second monitor," Lily said.
Nate straightened. "I can hook up a second monitor to my laptop?"
"Pretty sure." Lily turned the laptop around to look at the back of it. "Yep. You can hook it up here."
"Well, then I'm going to go get one." Nate knew he couldn't afford to be buying stuff willy-nilly, but right then it seemed important that he be able to get the paperwork done. With the desktop computer ruined from water and smoke damage, he was going to have to use the laptop for the time being.
Lily looked up at him. "Like you said, it would be easier to be able to view both screens at the same time. Dual monitors are the best way to do that."
"Can I get something like that at Walmart?"
A small smile played around the corners of her mouth. "Yes. They do carry monitors."
"Is there a brand I should buy? And a certain size?"
She paused then said, "Do you want me to come with you?"
Not allowing himself to consider another option, Nate nodded. "You've always been a bit more up on the computer side of things than I have."
"You use computers at the garage," she pointed out.
"Yeah, but they're connected to something Idounderstand. Cars."
"Let me get my purse." Lily slowly stood up. She braced her hand for a second on the desk then moved around him toward the door. "I'll be right back."
Nate grabbed a couple of the cookies and took a bite of one as he dug his keys out of his pocket. He was kind of surprised that she'd suggested going with him. Maybe this was her attempt to get their relationship to a "just friends" place. Being with her made it difficult to get to that point since his heart really wasn't interested in friendship.
This time Nate steered clear of the kitchen while he waited for Lily. As he stood in the hallway eating the second cookie he'd taken, he heard Amy and Cami talking.
"Did Will tell you if he was going to talk to Nate?" Cami asked. "He seemed pretty determined that Nate should know."
"He did mention it before he left for the office. I'm not sure that's the right decision. I think Lily should be the one to decide to share anything with Nate."
"I guess it must be something about guys sticking together. I feel the same way you do."
Nate scowled. What were they talking about? Was there some big secret Lily hadn't told him? He heard movement and glanced up to see Lily making her way down the stairs. Once again, she moved more slowly than he remembered. Of course, in the past, she'd always been excited to see him. She'd practically flown down the stairs to meet him when he'd come to pick her up. There was no rush for her to join him now.
The thought caused an ache in his heart. More than anything he wanted back what they'd once had. They’d been together for almost seven years. No one else had ever known him as well as she had. Clearly he had failed to achieve anything similar with Crystal, given what she’d said. He knew he'd held back part of himself from her. After all, he had no guarantee that she wouldn't leave him like Lily had. And of course there was the fact that he just hadn't felt that closeness with her. Top it off with all the responsibility that had landed solely on his shoulders with his dad's death, and it hadn’t been an ideal set of circumstances in which to nurture a relationship.
"Ready to go?" Lily asked as she stepped toward him, her purse strap slung over her shoulder.
"If you are." At her nod, he headed for the front door and held it open for her. He did the same with the door of his truck. Though she made no comment, he got the feeling she'd rather he didn't do those things for her.
Too bad.
He assumed that she saw them spending time together as a way to show him they could be friends. From his perspective, however, he saw it as an opportunity to remind her of how good they were together.
"So how was Europe?" Nate asked as he guided the truck down the driveway to the road leading to Collingsworth.
"Beautiful. I was able to cross off all the places on my 'must see' list."
"I should hope so, considering you were over there for almost three years." Silence hung heavy between them. "Uh, what was your favorite place to visit?"
She didn't respond right away, and Nate figured he'd made her mad with his comment, but then she said, "It's really hard to choose just one place. Many of them were favorites for different reasons. But of course I enjoyed Paris. And visiting Scotland was a wonderful experience. But probably the chalet in Switzerland was my all-time favorite."
