He pointed his fork at her. “I think you do. I think you’re scared and you don’t….” He blew out a breath and nodded to himself. “Scared. You’re scared.”
She gaped at him. “I’m notscared. I don’t have anything to be scared about. I have a job. I don’t have to worry about anything. It would be a hobby.”
“Then maybe you think that if you love it, it’d be too hard to put your whole heart into it.”
Wendy continued to stare at him, unsure of how to move forward. She didn’t like this kind of scrutiny. He was getting dangerously close to something she wasn’t sure she wanted to uncover for herself. Swallowing hard, she forced the instinct to fight back away. She shoved it down into the dark pit of her soul. Then she took a deep breath. “You know, one of the hardest things to do is to look in the mirror and truly accept what you don’t want to see.”
“What are you saying?”
She folded her hands into her lap and nodded. “You claim that I’m scared. Well, I think that would be a better description for yourself.”
One brow lifted and he offered her that all too familiar smirk. “Really?”
“Really. I think that you don’t want to put forth the effort and commitment it would take to stick with one thing.” She could liken his behavior with the way he treated dating in the past, but she knew better than to go there. “What happens whenyou finally choose a path, Tripp? Are you scared you can’t backtrack?”
He turned thoughtful at her question. “Maybe I am.”
Wow. Tripp was actually listening to her. She hadn’t expected that.
His eyes locked with hers in a hard stare. “But I think the same could go for you.”
Immediately she waved a hand through the air. “This isn’t about me. We both know that I’m interested and I’m ready to dive in and write the book. I just can’t get past that initial… issue. It’s psychological, sure, but notfear.”
They each stared at one another for a long moment before the two of them released the pent-up laughter. It was a relief to have a conversation that didn’t end in one or the other drawing blood.
“So what are you going to do? Are you going to stick with your current job, or are you going to talk to your cousin about a change?”
Tripp shrugged. “Dunno. It’s not like I’m unhappy.” But the way he said it made her wonder if that statement wasn’t entirely true. He might not be unhappy in his job, but there was part of him that was hurting.
Like called to like. She could see the pain. Feel how he sensed something was missing. She wanted to reach out and touch his face, to drag him back to the present and ask him to talk to her. But she didn’t. She kept her hands clasped tightly in her lap as she waited for him to work through whatever it was.
In moments, he lifted his eyes to meet hers again. “Have you thought about sending what you have to someone?”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. Like a critique person. Someone who can tell you if you’re on the right track. Maybe that’s what’s holding you back. You’ve never done something like this before. Maybe you could use a mentor.”
The idea wasn’t half-bad. And at least he wasn’t berating her. She offered him one of the first genuine smiles she could muster. “Thanks, Tripp.”
“What for?”
“For… listening, I suppose.”
He huffed out a laugh. “Secrets and surprises, sweetness.”
They both turned back to their food and continued to eat. Up until this point, they’d been on their own. No one had ventured toward them to chat or ask why neither one of them had torn the other’s throat out. It was nice, this truce they’d agreed to. But it was only a matter of time before something triggered the war to begin again.
For now, Wendy was happy to let the evening continue as it was.
“You and Trippseem to be getting on okay,” Serenity murmured from behind Wendy’s back.
Wendy jumped then spun to face her friends. Hallie stood beside Serenity and the two of them were staring at her like she’d done something wrong. Or maybe they were scheming? It was getting hard to tell with these two. Wendy scoffed and waved a dismissive hand in the air. “He’s the worst and you know it.”
Hallie laughed. Serenity glanced in the direction where Tripp had gone about five minutes ago.
“I’m still mad at you, by the way,” Wendy added, glaring pointedly at Serenity.
Her friend didn’t need to hear the words that came next based on the playful grin on her face.
