And suddenly, I had agirlfriend.
The coincidence of the timing of it happening and the return of a certain someone wasn’t much of a coincidence at all. Did it play a part in my jumping the gun on the whole label thing? As fucked up as it sounded and as shitty as it made me feel, I’d be lying if I said no.
I did want to give things with Loralei a shot, but I knew if Morgan came back and, for whatever reason, wanted to resume the arrangement we had before she left, I would have done so with zero hesitancy. And doing that would have done me no favors with getting over the feelings I’d already been struggling with.
So, a part of me agreeing to label this thing was to force myself into exclusivity to keep away from the temptation that was Morgan Hayes.
I’d been doing okay with pushing my feelings aside, but I knew a lot of that had to do with the fact that Morgan hadn’t been around. The minute I saw her last night for the first time in two months, it was like the dam I had them locked behind crumbled, and everything came flooding back in an instant. When I went to talk to her at the bar, I did it mostly to try and prove a point to myself—that I could be around her and not be consumed by what I was trying to bury. Then I caught a whiff of her signature rose scent, and I knew it was going to be much harder than I anticipated.
I was still stubbornly standing my ground, however.
I still planned to ease into things with Loralei. I knew that didn’t make very much sense, considering we already slapped a label on it, but just because it was labeled didn’t mean we stillcouldn’t take things slow. Haley asked if I was going to bring her to Sunday dinner, but I drew the line there. Family dinner was sacred, even for my sister—she only brought that douchebag ex of hers, Brett, over once, and they were together nearly a year before it happened. I had no plans for that anytime soon.
As for Morgan, I hoped being around her again now that she was back would become easier. And now that the cat was out of the bag about what had been going on with us before, at the least, we wouldn’t have to pretend to dislike each other when we were out with everyone. We could be friends out in the open.
Because Ididwant to be her friend, even if it was hard at first.
I pulled into the law office parking lot for Tuesday night trivia and got out of my car, making my way to the bar. Usually, the others would be waiting for me, but I was running behind because I stopped by Loralei’s beforehand.
After that first Saturday when I brought her to meet everyone, she tagged along for trivia the following Tuesday—she said it wasn’t her thing, so she didn’t really care to join in anymore, so I would stop by to see her before I went.
That Tuesday was also the last time I’d seen Morgan.
I didn’t know if it was because it was only a few days after she outed us to everyone, but Morgan was acting off that night. She stayed for a mere thirty minutes before she said she wasn’t “feeling that great” and was going to take off. When Gabe protested and said we needed her for trivia, she was the one who suggested Loralei take her spot.
That was a month ago.
Morgan hadn’t come out on Tuesdays because she was “slammed with work.” She stopped coming out on Saturdays because she was “catching up on work” or “had other plans.” In all of the time I’d known her, I could count on one hand the amount of trivia and nights out she missed.
It made me feel like she was purposely avoiding me.
I didn’t know if she felt awkward around me now that things had stopped between us or if some part of her felt weird being around Loralei because of our past, but I naively thought with things being out in the open, we might actually talk more, even if it was just as friends. That couldn’t happen if she wasn’t around.
When I walked into the bar, I headed for our usual table and spotted Gabe, Lucas, and Callie.
“Hey,” Lucas said with a smile.
“Hello.” I signaled to Susan for a drink. “No Blake?” I asked Gabe.
“No. He wanted to take it easy tonight.”
I nodded in understanding, then glanced at the empty seat beside Callie. “Where’s Morgan?”
I already knew the answer.
“She had a project she was working on,” Callie answered.
“Again?”
Callie offered a small smile, but I couldn’t help but feel like there was more behind it. “Yeah…”
“Is she going to come out Saturday? Or does she haveother plans?” I quipped, but my tone was a little sharper than I intended. I didn’t give a shit anymore; they knew about what had been going on between us before, so I didn’t need to be careful with asking about her now.
“I’m not sure,” Callie replied with a soft shrug.
Something told me webothalready knew the answer.
Chapter 46
