"Talk to you in a bit," Matt said as he gave Crystal a smile and walked past her to where Will's truck was still parked.
"Hi," Crystal said as she stepped to his side. She wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him a quick hug before stepping back. "I was on my way home for lunch when I saw the machines." She looked toward the work area. "I am so sorry to see that. Are you doing okay?"
Looking down at her, Nate wished he had been able to make it work, but he couldn't force his heart to feel something it didn't. "I'm doing okay. I will be glad to get it all over with. This is the hardest part."
"I'm sure. Are you going to rebuild?"
"Eventually. Probably in the spring."
"Are you going to stay at the manor in the meantime?"
Nate looked down at her, trying to read the expression on her face. "Only until I can move into an apartment."
She gave a nod. "How is Lily?"
"Do you really want to talk about Lily, Crys?"
A smile crossed her face. "Honestly, I do. It wasn't until I ended things with you that I realized we really weren't meant to be together. I actually felt kind of relieved. And I'm sure you did, too."
"You're such a sweetheart, I actually wish it could have worked between us. But yes, you're right. I don't think we were meant to be."
"I'd still like to be your friend. That's why I'm here today."
Funny, Nate thought. Two ex-girlfriends offering friendship. He was much more willing to settle into that type of relationship with Crystal than he was with Lily. Maybe that would change in time, but friendship was just so far from his mind whenever Lily was around.
As the machines roared to life again, Crystal tugged on his arm. He bent his head down and heard her say, "I'm going to head back to work. Call me if you need anything. Even just to talk."
Nate leaned down. "Thanks. I appreciate you stopping by."
She gave him a quick wave and headed away. Nate turned back to the job site in time to see the first scoop of the remnants of his house get dropped into a dump truck. He realized then it wasn’t just the sentimental things he had lost. He was going to need all those practical things that had gone up in flames as well. A bed. A couch. A television. The important things...
~*~*~
Well, that had been a colossal mistake.
Lily knew the heavy silence in the truck was because neither Will nor Amy knew what to say. And to be honest,she didn't know either. If Matt hadn't come over to talk to Will, she would not have had to witness the exchange between Nate and Crystal. Not only had she not been sent away, she'd gotten a hug and conversation. Crystal was an ex-girlfriend that Nate seemed willing to be friends with.
Why wouldn't he even consider that with her?
"You okay?" She met Will's gaze in the rear view mirror.
This time Lily knew Will wasn't asking about her physical state. "I shouldn't have gone. It's just...I had memories of that home, too, and it was hard for me to think about losing those. I imagined how much harder it was for him. Just because I don't want a relationship with him doesn't mean I don't care about him."
Amy turned around to look at her. "Are you sure you don't want a relationship with him? Sorry, if that's a personal question."
"I don't want to burden Nate...or anyone for that matter, with the possibility of having to care for me down the road. He saw his dad do that for his mom. We actually talked about it a few times. He said he admired him for what he'd done for his mom, but that it had also been a huge burden for his dad. How could I ask Nate to turn around and do the same thing?" Lily paused. "Would you ask that of Will?"
Amy's brow furrowed as she glanced at the man seated next to her. "I don't know."
"Wouldn't you think that Will deserved a life that didn't include the high possibility of having to care for you later on in your life?"
"I suppose."
"But I would be willing to do that for her, Lil. I love her," Will said. "I would rather live my life with her knowing that was a possibility than to live forever without her."
Amy reached out and laid a hand on his arm. "I know that if the roles were reversed, I would want Will to trust me. To trust my love for him enough to commit to me. Maybe youneed to trust that Nate knows—especially given his past—what he wants when it comes to a relationship with you. Of all of us, he would know the true scope of caring for someone. Yet it seems he still wants to do that for you."
Chewing on a fingernail, Lily stared out the window at the houses they passed on the way back to the manor. What if it had been Nate that had been diagnosed with this disease? How would she have felt if he'd broken things off with her without an explanation? She'd been so convinced she was doing the right thing that she'd never considered it from his perspective.
