I set Nyah’s dinner on the table. “Do you want wine?”
“No wine,” she said, sitting down. “I just slept off that glass at lunch. It feels like it’s hitting me harder these days. Chicken Caesar?”
“Martina’s specialty. Dressing from scratch.”
“She’s Taylor’s wife?”
I nodded.
She took a bite, then another.
I sat beside her, watching her eat, my chest tight with everything I hadn’t said.“Listen,” I started. “I know things are probably weird with…” I stopped. Tried again. “Actually, what I wanted to say was?—”
My heart pounded. I had never struggled like this to speak. Not once in my life. But the woman in front of me had a way of undoing me completely.
She laid down her fork and looked at me fully.
“You know, the thing is… Lucas… he’s?—”
“I heard everything.”
“You did?”Okay, this is going to make it easier then.
She nodded, calm, composed. “Things are complicated,” she said gently. “Lucas is my priority and always will be. I have to make decisions with him in mind. And honestly, I have so much on my plate already, I don’t even have time to think about anyone else. I’m sorry hemade you uncomfortable by playing cupid and trying to push us together.”
“Okay.” The word echoed uselessly in my head.“Okay.”What I heard and what I felt in my heart came from separate worlds. Separate universes.
She wasn’t ready.
No—worse. She didn’t want this.
Was it Harper? The wedding? Something else I didn’t know how to reach?
I’d been prepared for hesitation. For fear. Even forslow. But not fornothing. What I felt for her was genuine. Pure. Just thinking about her filled me with peace and joy, and like a hundred-mile view from a mountaintop, I saw our future together with such perfect clarity. Some of that feeling had to be reciprocated. Ithadto be.
“I’d better go read that story,” she said, standing. “Will you thank Martina for dinner?”
“Yeah,” I managed, standing up. “Of course.”
I followed her to the door, my legs heavy, my thoughts scattered.
“I understand if you don’t want to come to the wedding,” she added quietly. “I’m sorry about Lucas. I’ll talk to him.”
“No,” I said quickly. “Please don’t.” I forced a smile. “I’ll still come. With you and Lucas.”
“You’re sure?”
I nodded.
“I like being friends,” she said. “I like hanging out with you. And Lucas does too.”
“Definitely,” I said. “I’d like that.”
She opened the door. “Drive safe.”
I nodded and walked out, though I barely registered the steps I was taking.
What the hell just happened?
