“Shouldn’t you be telling me to work out my problems as quickly as possible?”
“Sure. But you’re allowed to take a day or two to process things before talking it out. I mean up to this point Quinn hasbeen insisting that she doesn’t want anything to do with her ex. But you walked in on them having a semi-intimate moment. It’s okay to take a beat to process that and then talk to her. Maybe it was all innocent. I’m sure that’s the case. But if you have feelings about it, take some time to experience them.”
Autumn nodded her head in agreement. She stood from the sand and wiped off her jumpsuit. Jordan stood and walked with Autumn back to her car.
“You want me to drive you home?” Jordan asked.
“Thanks, that would be great.”
They rode in relative silence, Autumn gazed out the window. It was dark now, so she stared at nothing.
“What are you going to do? For the rest of the night I mean,” Jordan asked.
“Have some junk food delivered to my place. Then eat it.”
Jordan gave a soft laugh.
“I’ll stay if you want. But it kind of seems like you’d enjoy some time to yourself.”
It was more of a statement than a question. Autumn could appreciate that Jordan seemed to be good at reading people.
“I do kind of want a quiet evening alone.”
“I hope you have a restful night,” Jordan offered with a smile. She pulled up to Autumn’s home. Autumn leaned in and gave her a small half hug before getting out.
“Thanks again for everything tonight,” Autumn said.
“You’re very welcome. Feel free to text me anytime,” Jordan smiled as Autumn closed the door.
Autumn wasn’t sure she’d ever felt this tired before. She needed snacks and her bed. Before walking into her home Autumn checked her phone. Her screen lit up with unread text messages from Quinn. She turned the notifications for her cell phone to silent. Tomorrow she’d handle Quinn. Tonight, she didn’t want any interruptions.
Chapter 21
Quinn couldn’t do much other than watch Rory go. There had been a hint of sadness in Rory’s eyes the entire evening. Quinn knew that Rory had figured out she wasn’t interested in picking things back up early in the night. The realization was likely a blow to Rory’s ego. Where Quinn was concerned Rory had always been able to get exactly what she wanted.
Would things be different if Autumn wasn’t in her life? Quinn couldn’t help but to ask herself the question. She wanted to believe that even if she wasn’t dating Autumn, she’d have had enough self-respect to tell Rory no. She was pretty sure that would have been the case. Quinn was still standing and looking at the spot where Rory had just been when someone grabbed her shoulders and spun her around.
The motion was so sudden that it took Quinn a moment to register that it was Madison standing in front of her.
“What were you thinking?” Madison demanded.
Quinn shook her head, unable to process the words.
“I’m sorry. What do you mean?”
“You were dancing with Rory. And you let her kiss you,” Madison demanded again.
Quinn could only stare at her friend.
“Rory wanted one last dance. I only wanted my necklace back. The kiss was unexpected, but I pushed her away immediately,” Quinn explained.
Madison ran a hand through her hair and sighed.
“It doesn’t matter what you were intending. Autumn was here. She saw the whole thing. She’s furious.”
Quinn felt a mounting sense of panic. Autumn had seen her dancing with Rory. Had she seen Rory lean in for that kiss?
“Where is she?” Quinn asked. She knew that she needed to get this sorted out with Autumn before it grew into something larger.
