Before the Sunset (Cottonwood Cove, #4)(8)

“Hell, no. With this whole Jessica Carson disaster, she wants me to be in a relationship. But you know I haven’t been going out. I’ve been keeping a low profile.”

“Don’t let Jessica force you into hiding.”

“That’s the thing. Like I’ve told you before, I just haven’t felt like it. I don’t know. I guess I’m enjoying some downtime, you know? It’s been a tough year with you gone, and now that I’m done filming for a little bit, I’m not busy at work, and I guess I just haven’t had any desire to go out on a date.”

She nodded as she bit off the top of a french fry. “I get that. I’ve been in a real funk, too. I mean the work… I told you that it was amazing. But I haven’t gone on a single date in the past year because I thought I was kind of still engaged. I just didn’t think it was really over. So, it looks like we’re both in a rut.”

“You still want to get back with that dude after this?” I asked, shaking my head and crossing my arms over my chest.

Reese and I didn’t disagree often. We’d always had one another’s backs. But when it came to Carl, we didn’t see eye to eye.

I’d never cared for the guy.

“I’m the one who left. I put my job before my relationship. He’s not the bad guy here, Chewy.”

He was always the bad guy in my mind.

“You did something that you wanted to do. He’s always done what he wanted to do, and you’ve supported him.”

She shrugged. “You’ve hated him ever since senior year soccer tryouts.”

“Damn straight. It was a timed two-mile run. He cut it short one lap. It was the honor system. I never trusted him after that.”

I’d set the record that year for the fastest two-mile run on our soccer team, and that bastard cuts a lap and tries to say he beat me? I led the whole goddamn race. It took a lot to piss me off, but the fact that he was a cheat and dating my best friend—I’d never forgotten it.

It’s all about integrity, man.

And Carl Barley didn’t have any.

He might be a doctor now, but the man would always be the guy who not only cut the run short but also said that he’d set the record for the fastest time. He’d tried to double down. Thankfully, Coach Dugger was paying attention. Carl then pretended it was an oversight.

Oversight my ass, you cheating bastard.

She chuckled before letting her teeth sink into her bottom lip. “It’s good to see you.”

“Yeah? So, you’ll come home with me?”

She closed her eyes, leaning back in her chair. She hadn’t had more than two bites of her burger and a few french fries. “I’m a mess. I have no plan now.”

“Bullshit. You’ll live with me. I was hiring you anyway to decorate the house. The renovations are done, and now I need to finish furnishing the place, get window coverings, and all of that. You’ll be living there while you get it put together. It’s a perfect plan. And I’ll be the first client at your new business, so get ready for everyone in town to be knocking down your door.”

“Okay,” she whispered. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“It’s all coming together.”

“It’s a start. I’ll just do what I can to avoid them. I’m not ready to see him with her, you know?” I heard the hurt in her voice, and rage coursed my veins. I’d always been protective of Reese, and that would never change.

“I’ve got you. Don’t worry about a thing.”

“I’d be lost without you, Chewy.”

“Well, you’ll never be without me. And I’d be the one who’d be lost. It’s been the best year of my life professionally, and I felt really—off. I didn’t like you being gone. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m proud as hell of you, but I missed you like crazy, Miney.”

She smiled. The first real smile I’d seen since I arrived.

“That’s because we’re peas and carrots, right?” she teased. It’s what our mothers had always said since we were young.

And damn, had they been right.

Because this girl had always completed me in a way I’d never understood.

“Damn straight. Eat up. No more of this pouting shit. Starting today, you hold your head high. No more grieving over a dude who doesn’t deserve your time or your tears.”

She sighed as she reached for her burger. “Easier said than done. This is one area that you don’t understand because you don’t want the same things as me. You don’t want marriage and kids. And I found the person I thought I’d do all those things with, and it hurts like hell to think of him with someone else.”

“I never said I don’t want to get married and have kids. Hell, I love kids. I just never met anyone I wanted to keep going out with. But who knows? It could happen. The difference between you and me is that I don’t worry about shit like that. If it’s supposed to happen, then I’ll get knocked on my ass. You’re trying to force it.”

She shook her head. “I’m hardly trying to force it. I said yes to marrying him. But I changed the plan and left. That wasn’t fair to him. So, I’m trying to fix what I broke.”

I shrugged. We could agree to disagree. That shit was already broken; she just didn’t want to see it.