“Of course,” Cullen says. “We won’t tell anyone, will we?”
Isla shakes her head. “I love Beth like a sister.” She hesitates, and then her expression softens as she says, “We talked about you.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “Me?”
“Yes. At the fundraiser. She was watching you speak. After you finished, I said, ‘He likes you,’ and she blushed scarlet.”
It doesn’t mean anything. Maybe she was just embarrassed to be caught looking at another man when she was dating Jude. But Isla’s words fill me with hope and longing.
“She’s also admitted to me several times that things haven’t been right with Jude for a while,” Isla says. “So I’m not surprised they’ve broken up.”
“So how did you leave things?” Cullen asks.
I swirl the coffee around in the cup, then pick at the lid. “The next morning Jude turned up. We pretended she’d slept on the sofa.”
“Shit,” Cullen says.
“Yeah. It was very awkward. Jude wanted to talk, but she said she wasn’t ready and left.”
“Did you tell him?” Isla asks.
But Cullen is already shaking his head. “You’re going to let them sort it out, aren’t you?”
“Oh, Archer,” Isla says.
“What?” I frown. “I’m not going to interfere if there’s a chance they can make it work.”
“Do you want to be with her?” Isla asks.
I study my coffee cup.
She tries to catch my eye. “Then you should stake your claim.”
“I’m not comfortable doing that. She knows how I feel about her.”
“You’ve told her you love her?” Cullen asks.
“No…” I glare at him. “But I’m not going to challenge Jude to a duel over it. It’s not about who wants her more. It’s about what Beth wants, and if she decides to try to make her relationship work, I’m not going to stand in her way.”
“Mr. Honorable,” Cullen says, with some exasperation.
“It’s not about being honorable.” How can I explain it?
“You want her to choose you,” Isla says softly.
I nod slowly. “Yeah.” I’m ashamed of it. It feels needy. But I don’t want to have to talk Beth into being with me. She’s been with Jude for two and a half years. I’ve been here all that time, and she’s never looked in my direction, not for longer than a glance, anyway. If she chooses Jude over me now, then her feelings for me don’t come close to mine for her.
“Hello?”
We all look around as a female voice calls from inside the house. For a moment I think it’s Beth, come to find me, but then I see Natalie walking toward us, and I remember our arrangement to meet.
“Oh, hey.” I get up as she comes out onto the patio and hold out my hand. “Thanks for coming.”
She shakes it, smiling. “Hope you don’t mind me barging in, but the door was open.”
“No, of course not.” I turn to the others. “This is Natalie Price. She works with me at the Sunrise Bay Center. She’s going to be our first therapist! Nat, this is Cullen and Isla, and Ghost of course.”
“Hello!” Natalie has shoulder-length brown hair, green eyes, and a quiet, calm, and sunny personality. She bends to stroke Ghost as he comes over to investigate her, and she smiles at Cullen and Isla. “Nice to meet you at last.”
