Her sister's eyes widened. "Do you think that's such a good idea?"
"I need to get us back to at least being friends before I can ask more of him."
A small smile curved Jessa's lips. "You think you might get back together?"
Lily shrugged. "I'm not sure if I've left it too late with him. We'll see."
"I'll be praying for both of you." She gave her a wider smile. "My keys are on the hook in the kitchen."
Lily walked to where Jessa sat, pressed a kiss to her cheek and gently touched the baby's head. "See you later."
~*~*~
"Think your girl's here," Rod said.
"She's not my girl," Nate ground out before turning to see that indeed, it was Lily headed in their direction. She moved gracefully toward them, her auburn hair glinting in the bright sunlight. Recalling what he'd read about heat affecting those with MS, he hoped the day wouldn't be too much for her. He hadn't even thought to check the weather to see how hot it would be.
"Hi," Lily said with a smile as she reached them.
"Lily, this is Rod Winters. Rod, this is Lily Collingsworth."
They shook hands and then Rod said, "So Nate mentioned you're looking for a smaller SUV?"
"Yes. A cross-over, I think they call them."
Rod nodded. "We've got a couple of them on the lot you can test drive."
Nate walked beside Lily as Rod headed toward a row of parked cars. For the next fifteen minutes, he listened as Lily asked questions--informed ones--about the vehicles Rod showed her. Nate wasn't even sure why she had wanted him there. In the past, she would have left all of this kind of stuff up to him. In fact, if she'd wanted a car when they were engaged, he would have just bought it and given it to her. She wouldn't have cared about much more than how it looked. Today she was asking about safety records and mileage. Just one more example of how she didn't need him anymore.
"What do you think? Nate?"
Pulling his thoughts back to the matter at hand, Nate focused on Lily. "Rod has done a pretty good job with the pros and cons and answering the questions you had. I think it all comes down to which cons you can live with and which pros you can't."
Her brow furrowed for a second before she nodded. He saw uncertainty cross her face as she clutched the strap of her purse. Maybe this wasn't as easy for her as he'd thought. She had clearly done her homework, but when push came to shove, she still didn't trust her own judgment.
Nate glanced at his friend. "Can you give us a few minutes, Rod?"
"Sure thing, buddy." He jerked his head toward the building. "I'll be inside if you need me."
As the man walked away, Nate turned to Lily. "Let's go sit in my truck and talk about it. It's getting a bit warm."
Lily nodded and walked beside him to the truck. He opened the door for her and watched as she pulled herself uponto the seat. He would have loved to help her, but wasn't about to put himself in the position of being slapped down again.
After getting behind the wheel, he started it up and cranked the air conditioning. It didn't take long for cold air to begin to stream from the vents.
"Okay, so what are you feeling about what Rod showed you? Do any of them interest you or would you rather look at a few other places?"
Lily let out a sigh. "I feel like if I give myself too many options, I'll never be able to make a decision."
Nate nodded. "It sounds like you've done some research though. Out of all that, before talking to Rod, which was the one that appealed to you most?"
Lily told him. "It seemed the safest. And I did actually like how it looked."
"Rod's not a dealer for that line of vehicles, so we'll have to go to another dealership. There's one on the south side of town. I know a guy who works there, too. I'll call to see if they have any in stock for you to test drive."
It didn't take long for him to confirm that they did, so he let them know they'd be there in a few minutes. "Let me just go tell Rod."
"I'm sorry to have wasted his time."
