“I don’t want him to let me go.”
Hattie smiles softly as if she’s already well aware of what I was going to say. “I know. So what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. Talk to him, I guess.”
“That’s a good start.”
“Okay, but I don’t knowwhereto start.”
She looks at me for a minute and twists her mouth. “Did he text you this morning?”
“Of course.”
“Maybe just.” She shrugs, her eyes looking happier than I’ve maybe ever seen them. “Text him back.”
I reread the text Derek sent at five thirty this morning. I had no idea he got up so early, and of course, I’m concerned when I don’t really feel as if I have a right to be.
DEREK: Good morning, beautiful. I hope you have a great Saturday.
I bite my lip, unsure what to reply with. It’s four hours later, and I’m sure he’s not expecting one, which might make this easier.
But I stick with something simple.
ELIZABETH: Good morning, I hope you do too. How are you?
There, simple, to the point, and not too intrusive or out of the box.
He starts typing back immediately, and I blink in surprise. Derek isn’t one to hang around his phone all the time, he’s the type of person who keeps it in his pocket. He doesn’t use it to avoid eye contact or conversation. I love that about him.
DEREK: I’m okay. How are you?
Okay, so we’re sticking with some simple conversation, light and breezy, nothing too deep.
ELIZABETH: Okay. How are things at the store?
Come on, Birdie. Say you want to see him. Say you want him to come to dinner, say you want to make love and build a home together.
Okay, maybe that is a little too much, but dinner, with Rora there, might be a good place to start.
DEREK: The store is doing well. There are some things I’d love to show you.
Right, so. He wants to see me, that much I’ve gathered from his messages and his unrelenting love for me. I’m almost relieved as a breath slips from my lips, and I type back.
ELIZABETH: I can’t wait to see it.
Then, before I can stop or second-guess my actions, I send another text.
ELIZABETH: Would you like to come to dinner soon? Rora would love to see you.
Yeah, that’s a total cop-out, but what is done is done. There’s no going back. I’m not lying when I say that Rora would love to see him, she’s been asking more insistently the last few days to see him again, and I’m running out of excuses why we haven’t.
Neither of us girls wants to wait any longer.
I’m still nervous, still apprehensive, not because I think that Derek is going to yell at me again—I know he learned his lesson on that front—but because I’m scared of how we’re going to act with each other.
My phone buzzes, and I take a look at the screen.
DEREK: I would love to. Tonight?
