“Okay, okay!” I laughed at him and moved my hand, only letting it hover in case he started to list more information off about himself. It’s not like I didn’t want to know it all, but I didn’t need to know it all at once.
“I could keep going.” The look on his face turned from excitement to share with me, to worry that he probably wasn’t sharing enough.
“For now, this is fine, Drew.” I placed a hand on his cheek and he turned his head, placing a kiss directly in the center of my palm.
Nancy came between us, setting down both of our salads and walking away. She threw me a wink, just like Drew had when I had seen him the first time this afternoon. Everyone around me seemed keen on making this the most awkward day possible, but I didn’t let it affect me. I dove for my fork and started shoving salad into my mouth, grateful for the distraction from talking, but more so for the food itself. I hadn’t realized I was this hungry until the first bite went down my throat.
I was halfway through my plate when I finally looked up at Drew, who was sitting there watching me and he hadn’t even touched his salad yet.
“What?” I questioned him, sitting up a little straighter and taking a smaller bite.
“Nothing.” He chuckled. “Just watching you.”
“You should be eating.”
“What, you in a rush?” He raised both eyebrows, challenging me.
“Actually…” I sat my fork down but had to tell my stomach that I’d pick it back up in a moment. I didn’t want to keep shoving food into my mouth, which told Drew I was going to be heading home after this. “I’ll be heading back to my parents’ house to pack.”
“Oh.”
His word was simple and deflated. He picked up his fork and started eating his salad finally.
“I just need the night to process you being here.” I was honest with Drew. I wanted to spend more time with him, but I knew stepping away would help me process how I was going to tell him everything that was going on in my life. Because it wasn’t just my living quarters that was changing, but my whole world and I didn’t want to wreck his yet without the proper game plan.
He put down his fork and his eyes finally met mine again. We sat there in silence for a few moments until Drew finally spoke again.
“I can give you that.”
“Give me what?”
“One night.” He reached across the table, taking my hand in his. “I can give you one night to get your thoughts together, but after that, I’m not letting you out of my sight again.”
“Drew.” I tried to plead with him because I had no idea if this was going to just take one night. I had no idea if when I got home, I’d want to just lock myself in my room and never come out again.
“Don’t Drew me.” His thumb rubbed circles onto the top of my hand. “I want us to figure this out.”
“What all is there to figure out, Drew?” I knew I had to figure out how to tell him about his child growing inside of me, but I had no idea where he was getting at.
“What we are going to do about us. When I can move down here to be with you, because I don’t want to take you from here. You look good in a town like this. You look alive. I want to make this work, so let me try.”
“Drew. You just show up here after three months and expect everything to just go back to how it was in Myrtle Beach, but that’s not how this works.”
“We can make it work like that.” He squeezed my hand. “And if I’m not mistaken, I’m pretty sure you were the one who left me, not the other way around.”
I could feel the redness creeping across my face at Drew’s statement. He wasn’t wrong, I just didn’t think he’d actually say it out loud.
“Give me tonight, Drew.” I let out an exasperated breath because I was working myself up into a tizzy and I hadn’t really started to dive into what all was going to happen in the next twenty-four hours. But if Drew had anything to say about it, he was going to shove himself into my life no matter how he did it.
“Just one night, Tabitha.”
