Hey, you’re probably already asleep, but I just wanted to say that I missed you tonight.
I had stared at that text late last night when it came through, and I was staring at it again this morning. For reasons I was still unsure of, I decided not to answer last night, and I still didn’t know if I wanted to answer now. Something still didn’t feel right, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Noah and Dean had blindsided me. The other shoe had finally dropped. “Must run in the family,” I mumbled to myself. I’d be damned if I wasn’t going to proceed with caution, no matter how innocent Dean painted the picture of why he’d withheld this information from me.
I still couldn’t get Noah’s words out of my head that he’d spewed in my office when he was leaving.There are clearly things that you should know.And then he’d looked directly at Dean. Probably against my better judgment, I decided to text Noah.
Hi. You said that you were staying in town for a bit. Do you want to meet me at Primrose Slice tonight around 6?
Noah:
It’s a date, see you then.
I rolled my eyes. As infuriating as he was, I wanted to find out what he meant yesterday when he said there were things I should know, and as much as I hated to admit it, we were together for eight years, and the least I could do was give him a conversation, as he said. We might have ended badly thanks to his poor decision-making, but not all eight years were bad. We had a lot of good times, and he and his family were exactly what I’d needed when I was so far away from mine.
I pulled up to my farm, and as I was about to get out of my car, my phone vibrated in my hand again. I looked down, fully thinking it was another text from Noah.
Dean:
Good morning, I want to make you dinner at my place tonight so we can talk. There are some things I need to tell you.
I could tell he was being tentative and unsure in his texts, as evidencedby the lack of nicknames that he usually called me—no baby, no sweetheart, no James. He was clearly treading lightly, and the first thought to pop into my head wasWhy?Brushing that thought aside for now, I replied.
Hey, can we rain check on dinner until tomorrow night? I have plans tonight.
I was sure he just had more apologies planned, and I would give him that chance, but tonight I wanted to talk to Noah first. I saw three dots scroll across the screen but then disappear. They appeared again for a moment and then disappeared again. After a moment, he finally replied.
Dean:
Yeah, that works. I’ll see you tomorrow at my place at 6? Hope you have a good day today. Text me later if you can.
Sounds good. See you then, and you too!
Two days ago, he planned the most thoughtful and romantic date. Two days ago, we were wrapped around each other,addicted, and now this was where we were. Distant, cold, generic text messages. No affection, no love, nothing. It was amazing how one thing, one event, one lie, or one piece oftruth withheld could throw your life off course and change everything completely. But I should know that better than anyone, right?
With a deep sigh, I got out of my car and headed into the barn. I had a day full of client lessons and some training rides ahead of me, and I needed to push all the chaos of my personal life aside for the time being. I would hopefully get some answers tonight, but today I needed to focus on the horses.
Putting my hand on the door handle, I blew out a calming breath before making my way into Primrose Slice. I wasn’t sure what I was about to walk into, but I had this nagging feeling deep inside that I wasn’t going to like whatever Noah had to say concerning Dean.
Patty was standing at the front and welcomed me with a warm smile, but she had a questioning look on her face as she looked at me then back toward Noah, who was already seated in a booth at the back. In all the years we were together, Noah only came to Primrose Hill for Thanksgiving. We never ventured into town, just hung out around my parents’ place. No one in town had met him before, so I understood the question in Patty’s eyes. She hiked her thumb over her shoulder toward Noah. “That guy back there says he’s meeting up with you?”
I nodded. “Yeah, that would be my ex-fiancé.”
Patty clicked her tongue. “I’d say you upgraded, doll.” She walked me back to where Noah was seated. “I’ll grab you some waters and be back to take your order.”
Noah smiled up at me as I slid into the booth across from him. “Hey, glad you wanted to meet up.”
“Well, you kind of threw me for a loop when you randomly showed up at my farm, Noah. What is it that you wanted to talk about?” I looked up as Patty walked over and set our waters down in front of us.
She gave Noah a disapproving once-over before turning to me. “What would you like to order?” she asked, directing the question at me only. I had to stifle the laugh that threatened to escape. One thing I loved about a small town, we protected our own.
“Can we just get a medium pepperoni pizza and a Greek salad, please?”
Patty nodded and smiled before turning on her heel and heading back to the kitchen.
Noah shook his head. “Well, she’s friendly,” he said, the sarcasm clear in his tone.
Ignoring his comment, I asked again, “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”
Noah fiddled with the sleeve of his shirt, a nervous habit he always had, before looking back up at me. “I just wanted to tell you to your face how sorry I am for everything that I did. I miss you, and I wish things were different.” He sighed and looked back down at the table. “And I get it, you’ve moved on, and I deserve that, but I was hoping maybe we could salvage afriendship. We were together for so long, Addi. It’s weird not talking to you or having you in my life.”
