Shutting her eyes tight, Wendy suddenly wished she’d started this conversation via text message. “Yeah, Tripp. You know, the guy you were in love with?”
Another long pause. Then Olivia laughed. “Wait, are you talking about Tripp Gilley?”
“Yeah?” Wendy’s quiet voice was more of a squeak than it should have been. She shook her head at herself. “I know with the way things ended?—”
“Wait a minute!” Olivia gasped. “You… are you dating?”
“What? No!” Wendy said it far too quickly for her statement to be believable. “Really, Liv. We’re not.” Inwardly, she was beating herself up. This was bad. So, so bad. What happened to the girl code? She should have talked to Olivia before she even kissed the guy.
While she waited for Olivia to respond, she steeled herself for the worst. Olivia had every right to tell her that she was a bad friend. Heck, if she told Wendy that she didn’t want her to ever speak toTripp again, Wendy would probably agree. Their friendship was more important than a growing infatuation for a guy who was known for breaking hearts.
“Wendy,” Olivia admonished. “You don’t have to lie to me.”
She couldn’t tell if Olivia was upset. There wasn’t even an ounce of dismay in her voice. Nor was there any excitement. The words were said with caution if anything. “I’m not lying,” Wendy murmured. “Nothing’s happened.” She grimaced at that statement. Technically that kiss wasn’t nothing. “We’re not dating. His cousin got married to my friend. We were paired up in the wedding party.”
The background noise faded as Olivia clearly moved into another room. The soft sound of a door clicking shut was the only thing Wendy heard for several moments. Then Olivia sighed. “Honestly? I barely remember him.”
Wendy nearly choked. “Yeah right. I remember how upset you were. You cried yourself to sleep about this guy.”
Olivia made a grunting sound. “Yeah…” she drawled. “I was… young. Tripp was my second serious boyfriend. I thought…” She blew out a breath. “Honestly, I don’t know what I thought. Dating Tripp was fun. But when I look back at what we had…” She blew out a breath. “It wasn’t going to last.”
The way Wendy’s mouth dropped open would have made Olivia laugh if she’d been witness to it. “What?”
Her friend laughed. “I don’t know what to say, Wendy.” She hummed to herself for a moment. “Do you remember who I dated before Tripp?”
Pressing her fingers into her eyes, Wendy shook her head. “I don’t remember all of them.”
“No, I mean my first serious boyfriend. Do you remember who it was?”
As hard as Wendy tried, she couldn’t recall a name. Olivia’s first serious boyfriend had been in her first semester of college. It had been short-lived and Olivia had broken up with him because she didn’t want to be a statistic. She’d insisted she couldn’t marry her first boyfriend because those relationships never lasted. “I don’t remember,” Wendy murmured.
“It was Ben.”
“Ben?”
Olivia laughed. “Yes, Ben. As in my husband, Benjamin.”
Wendy froze. “What?”
She laughed again. “I thought you were aware. After Tripp broke up with me, I dated a couple other people then Ben and I got back together. The rest is history.” She waited for another beat. “I’m happy, Wendy. Really happy. And based on the way you’re acting, I get the feeling that Tripp means more to you than just a date to some wedding.”
Heat flushed Wendy’s cheeks, burning her from the inside out. “But?—”
“Maybe there’s something there. Maybe not. But you won’t know if you don’t try, right?”
“You wouldn’t be… mad?”
“Mad? Oh, goodness, no. Why would I be mad? I married the love of my life. Maybe Tripp is just a blip in the grand scheme of things. Maybe he’s more. But don’t hold back on my account.”
Wendy scoffed. “Yeah, right.”
“Just saying. Have some fun. Life’s too short.” Olivia quickly changed the subject as if she could sense that Wendy planned on arguing with her even more. She talked about her baby and the plans she and Benjamin had for the summer. They ended their conversation promising to stay in touch a little better.
When Wendy got off the phone, she felt even more ill at ease. There was nothing holding her back but herself. So why couldn’t she bring herself to do anything about her attraction to Tripp?
The answer hovered beneath the surface. Just because Olivia was fine with Wendy’s interest didn’t change the fact that Tripp had been known to date around. When Olivia had been bouncing back from their breakup, she’d lamented that fact.
If Wendy gave in to him, how long would it be until he got bored and moved on to someone else? Would her heart be able to take it? She didn’t want to find out.
