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.”“The pleasure is mine, Elle.And I’m sorry if you feel the need to rush out.You can stay—Abby’s best friends should hear what I have to say to her.”“Then we are so staying for this,” Brooke said.“No, we aren’t,” Elle said.“We’ll be at Starbucks people watching.It’s what we do.Now, let’s give them their privacy.” She looked at me.“Just call us when you’d like us to come back home.We’ll have our phones with us.No hurry—OK?”“Thank you, Elle,” I said.As they stepped past Chance and me, I caught the look on Elle’s face.She was as taken by his presence as Brooke was, only she was sharp enough not to show it as easily.She remained cool, but I knew by the way her lips parted when she brushed past him that she found him as attractive a I did.“See you,” she said.When she opened the door, she took Brooke by the hand, and led her into the hall.I closed it behind them, and Chance and I were somehow alone again.CHAPTER TWENTYFor a moment, we stood in an awkward silence before either of us spoke.“I’m surprised that you’re here,” I said.“I’m surprised that you were going to the airport.”“I was going there for a reason.”“Just as I came here for a reason.Funny how that happened, huh?”I didn’t answer.I was so anxious and I was trying to keep myself calm, but it wasn’t working out so well.“Maybe we should sit down and discuss those reasons?” he said.“I’m embarrassed to show you our apartment.”“Abby, I don’t care about what you have or don’t have.And I have a pretty strong idea that you feel the same way about me.I’m here to see you.I came here to talk with you.To fight for you if that’s what it takes.So, where can we sit?”“In furniture we bought at a second-hand shop.”He rolled his eyes at me, but then he smiled.“At the very least, I was hoping for something third-hand.That shit is usually pretty comfortable, unless a spring bites you in the ass.”I smiled at that.“At the very least, I can promise you that it’s clean.”“That’s the least of my worries.”He reached for my hand, squeezed it in his own, and I led him into the living room, where the air conditioner was rattling to such a degree that it was shaking the window casing as it leached whatever cool air it could spurt into the room.“Sorry about that,” I said.“It tries its best to keep things cool, but mostly it’s there to remind us what failure looks like.If you’re too warm, I can take your jacket.”“I’m fine.Let’s sit.”“Would you like something to drink?” I asked.“I came here to talk, but thank you,” he said.“I’m fine.”When I sat down on the couch, he took one of the chairs opposite me, likely because that’s what we’d always done.Whenever we had a conversation—whenever things got real between us—I’d always kept him at arm’s length because—for whatever reason—it had seemed safer to me.He was respecting that, but it also needed to end now.“Why don’t you sit next to me?” I asked.“Are you sure?”“I think I’d prefer it that way.”With that, he raised his eyebrows, got up, and sat next to me.“Chance, I’m sorry about this morning.”“You have nothing to be sorry about.”“I’m afraid that I do.You were right—I got scared.I became irrational.I think I was hearing only how things could go wrong, rather than how things might go right.Instinct told me to leave, so I did.I apologize for that.I should have stayed and listened to you.”“And I shouldn’t have given in so easily.Look, Abby, I came here to tell you that I’m crazy about you, OK? Do I understand how that happened so quickly? No.Can I put my finger on it? I can’t.Should I give a damn if I don’t understand why I feel the way I do? I shouldn’t.All I know is that I couldn’t leave today without giving this my best shot.Otherwise, I knew that I’d only regret it later.So I cancelled everything.”“I’m not going to lie—I’m glad that you did.And I’m glad that you thought enough of me to come here.After the way I behaved, that couldn’t have been easy.”“That’s the thing—it was easy.I told you that I’ve never felt this kind of connection since Beth.I think where we differ is that I try not to overthink things.I’ve always gone with my gut—I rely on it.But maybe you don’t.I think that’s where things became muddled between us this morning.I might have come on too strong, and that could have been a trigger for you.I think the whole idea that I feel something for you might have frightened you.”“That’s part of it, but not all of it.What I couldn’t face is that I felt the same way.That frightened me more because those feelings I couldn’t control.With Mark and with Brian, it took time for me to feel the kind of spark that I feel between us.This has happened so quickly, I got cold feet and ran.I shouldn’t have done that.I regret having done that.That’s why I was going to meet you at the airport.To tell you that I’d made a mistake.To say that maybe there’s some way we can give this a shot.”He put his hand on my leg, and when he did, I could feel the heat of his palm against my thigh.“When you left, I thought about what you said.That you didn’t do long-distance anything [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]