“He’s coming over,”I told Ashlyn as I set my phone down.
“Good.You need to talk.Find out if he’s been avoiding you because of the no kids thing or if it really has just been a busy two weeks.”
“I know,” I whined.“I just…”
“You’re scared.I get it.”
“Yeah,” I said as Josh knocked on the door and let himself in.
“Hey.”
I smiled, my heart kicking into another gear with him in the room.God, I loved him so much.It almost hurt how much I loved him.I loved Landon, but I always held a part of myself back with Landon.I didn’t do that with Josh.I let him see all of me.Now that I’d confessed I didn’t want kids.
But I wasn’t sure if it was enough for him.If I was enough for him.
“Hey,” Ashlyn said when I didn’t answer.
“Hey.Hi.”
He glanced at Ashlyn, then approached me.He leaned over me on the couch, kissing me softly before he sank to the cushion next to me.“Thanks for letting me invade you guys tonight.”
“Long day?”Ashlyn asked.
Josh nodded.“I just dropped Evie off at college.It was…”
“Harder than you expected?”
He nodded again, resting his head against the back of the couch.He rubbed his fingers over his eyes, like he was trying to stop tears from falling.
I grabbed his other hand and rubbed my thumb over his knuckles.Ashlyn hit play on the movie.The three of us sat there, not speaking, just being together.
After thirty minutes, Josh exhaled a long breath and squeezed my hand.I looked over at him, but he was watching the movie.I squeezed back, making sure he knew I was there and I cared.
I cared so much.He’d wrapped himself around my heart when I wasn’t paying attention.I never expected to meet someone while I was visiting Ashlyn, and he snuck up on me.He made me believe in something I never thought I’d have.Something that felt more real and more important than anything I’d ever experienced before.
If he didn’t feel the same…
I told myself I wanted to move to Amethyst Bay to be near Ashlyn.To make a home for myself in the town that I’d fallen for just as easily as I’d fallen for Josh.I still did, but if he didn’t feel the same way about me as I did about him, it was going to be hard.
None of us spoke as the movie played.We laughed at the characters and sighed at the happy ending.Ashlyn stretched and stood as the credits rolled.
“I’m going to bed.Are you staying here tonight, Josh?You’re welcome to.”
He looked at me with something dangerously tempting in his gaze.“If you’re okay with that, yeah.I don’t want to be home tonight.”
I nodded, and he grinned at me.
“I’ll lock up then,” Ashlyn said to herself, since we were mostly ignoring her.“Good night.”
“Good night,” we repeated.
Ashlyn snorted as she walked down the hall.A second later, her bedroom door closed.
“Thank you for letting me crash your night,” Josh said softly.
“You’re not crashing.”
He smiled, looking sad.“I haven’t been around for the last two weeks, and now I’m showing up and invading your night.You’re being nice.”
