“I’ll help unload,” I say.
“Great party,” Nance says as we push a cart to their garage. “Can’t believe our little Nicky is thirty.”
“My buns are going to burn all day—I danced that hard,” Sue adds.
I can’t help but laugh despite my sour mood. “Me, too.”
We arrive at the truck, and they both look at me.
“Seen Clay today?” Sue asks casually.
I let out a deep breath. “No. He left town.”
Nance scowls. “He did what?”
“There was a note. He says he’ll be back for his stuff.”
Sue frowns. “I’m sorry to hear that. Did something happen?”
I grab a box of vases. “I’m not sure. I’ve already decided I want to tell him how I feel, but I didn’t get a chance.”
We all work together, loading up the cart.
“If he left, it means he doesn’t love me. Right?” I ask. “Because if he loved me, he wouldn’t be able to leave. That, or I humiliated him so badly that he wants to forget me altogether?”
I know there’s not one single answer to my questions, but I’m trying to wrap my head around this, and I just can’t figure it out.
“Considering he’s Randy’s grandson,” Nance says, “him leaving might be proof that he loves you.”
Sue puffs out a breath. “Isn’t that the truth.”
I push the cart out, thinking about it. “He always said he doesn’t want to be in a relationship. He’s not looking for love. So, you’re saying if this really is love, it would only make sense that he would run from it?”
My eyes are wet. The more I talk about it, the more worried I am that I’ve screwed everything up.
“Nicky,” Nance says. “You really do love him, don’t you?”
We stop with the cart at my shop. “Yeah,” I admit weakly. “It’s a little too late to realize it, but I think I’ve fallen in love with Clay.”
“Well then,” Sue says pleasantly. “There’s really one thing to do about that. Don’t you think?” She lifts a box of vases off the cart. “When you love someone, you go for it. That’s what you’d say, at least, if anyone else were asking.”
“Yeah,” Nance jokes. “Unless it’s all a marketing ploy.”
I raise a wobbly smile. “So you’ve come along to liking Clay?” I ask as the three of us walk inside.
“I don’t know,” Nance says. “I still think he’s too big for his britches! But he makes you happy. And Sue likes working with him.”
I deposit my box on the work table. “He doesn’t like romance. He plans to never get married. Clay has made no indication that he wants to live in Allentown for the rest of his life. What am I supposed to do, throw all my expectations out the window? If I’m not willing to give up my plans, how can I ask him to give up his?”
Nance huffs. “When I met Sue, I was about to move to Amsterdam. Good doll furniture there.”
“And I was a bottom,” Sue adds with a laugh. “For years and years.”
Nance cracks her knuckles, eyeing Sue. “Until I came along.”
I laugh. “Okay. So we change some of our expectations and plans when we fall in love. I understand.”
Sue takes her wife’s hand. “Show him how you feel, Nicky,” she says. “He might surprise you.”
