She gawked at me. “You are standing here, lying to your best friend—I have known you for ten years. It is all over your damn face.” She waved a hand in front of my nose. “You’re packing a trauma kit for the car because that’s how much time you plan to spend there, and you’re trying to tell me this is just a sex thing?”
I went back to looking at bandages so I wouldn’t have to look at her. “Maybe I do like him. A little.” I shrugged. “He’s sweet.”
And generous, and funny, and attentive…
She was shaking her head at the side of my face. “You know this can’t be a thing, right? Your dad would disown you.”
I scoffed. “He’s ready to disown me anyway for not getting back with Neil. You know what Neil did last week?” I looked at her. “He turned off the power before he left for work.”
“He did what?”
“Yeah. I thought it was a power outage.”
“Why the hell did he do that? Just to be a dick?”
“Yup. He probably thought I’d call and ask him for help. It’s this super passive aggressive ‘you need me’ thing. He’s pissed because he thought we were going to talk the other day and I went to Daniel’s instead. He texted me all night, asking where I was. It was like this roller-coaster ride of him getting all pissed off because I didn’t show, and then a series of apologies and then he was pissed off again because I didn’t reply. He’s been sulking around all grouchy. Slamming doors and—” I rubbed my eyebrow. “I cannot wait for this to be over.”
“Does Neil know about Daniel?”
I shook my head. “No. Hell no. I tell him I’m at your house.”
“Good. He’s too shady to know what you’re up to. Don’t ever let him know. If this asshat turns the power off just to get your attention I don’t even wanna know what he’d do to your fuck buddy. Does Daniel know about him?”
“He knows enough.”
“And what does he say?”
I shrugged, picking up an oxygen canister. “We don’t really talk about it. I don’t need to bring Neil with me to Wakan. I go there to not think about him.” I rolled my eyes. “You know Neil made me a quiche the other day—”
“Ewwww, did you eat it?”
“No. No way.” I made a face. “But he left it there in the kitchen. It’s growing mold.”
“Uh, so throw it away?”
“He put it there, he can throw it away.” I set the oxygen canister down with a clink. “I can’t stand being home with him. That’s why I go to Daniel’s a lot. It just gets me out of the house. I’m not falling for him.”
She looked unconvinced. “Uh-huh.”
“What? I know this can’t go anywhere.”
She cocked her head. “Well, maybe you should stop it then.”
I blinked at her. “What?”
“Stop seeing him.”
I paused for a moment. “Why?”
“Because I know you, Ali. And no matter what you’re telling yourself, I see what’s happening. You’re just setting yourself up to be hurt. You’re setting him up to be hurt.”
“I’ve already told him I don’t want a boyfriend. He’s okay with it. We’re just having fun.”
She looked almost sorry for me. “Ali, I know Neil messed you up, so this is hard for you to believe, but you are an amazing woman. And there’s no way this guy can’t have feelings for you, because he’s going to see that. So either you’re gonna tell your family and Royaume Northwestern to go screw themselves while you move to the middle of nowhere to be with him, or you’re going to get your heart broken.”
I paused. “I’m not moving. I can’t.”
“Can he move here?” she asked.
I shook my head. “His whole life is that town. And he’s trying to buy his family’s house.”
She nodded. “Okay. So let’s talk through this. This dating goes on. You two fall in love. He can’t move here, and even if he did, your dad would never accept him, and your mom never disagrees with your dad. Derek would have been nice to him, but he’s not here. Neil would take a jab at him every chance he gets. You think Gabby and Jessica and their uptight husbands are gonna welcome him into the fold? They’re not. So he stays where he is, and you, what? See him once a week for the rest of your life? You can’t live with him. Can’t commute four hours a day, can’t change hospitals. So what happens when he wants to get married? Or have kids? You gonna do that with him? What’s the plan?”