Page 21 of Love You Still
We respond at the same time, my eyes snapping to hers as Selina slides past me, her head cast down to the floor. “I’ll be in the back if you need anything.”
I watch as she scurries to the back of the studio before disappearing out of sight.
“Damn it,” I curse softly under my breath before turning toward Easton and Jasper. “You can get started with sanding the floors in the back.”
“You got it, boss.” He gives me a mock salute before striding back out the door to get the equipment they need to get started.
Just as I’m about to follow them out the door to clear my head, a feminine “FUCK!” filters through the walls of the shop. A smile comes across my face. I’ve planted the seed; now it’s time to wait for it to grow.
Chapter 10
Selina
“You are one of my best friends, Leia. It’s your duty to come!” I whine into the phone as I hold another shirt in front of me and examine my reflection. My lips turn up in disgust as I throw it on the massive pile of clothes on my bed and go back into my closet.
“When did getting dressed become some difficult?” I grumble as I look through the remaining clothes in my closet and find nothing suitable to wear.
I just want the perfect outfit that saysI wish we hadn’t been interrupted when you kissed me in the dance studio earlier this week, but I’m glad we were because my heart couldn’t take it. Although I’m not really interested in being in a relationship. Is that too much to ask?
It’s been almost a week since our kiss, and I can’t stop thinking about it, which has been very inconvenient. Not only that, but I’ve also been avoiding him like the plague. I should’ve been at the studio, overseeing the renovations, but when Vance showed up again on Tuesday morning, I hightailed it out of there, asking him to text me if they had any problems. There have been no issues, but that hasn’t stopped him from sendingme cute little texts throughout the day, and it’s driving me insane.
“It became difficult the minute your mom announced your ex was coming to dinner tonight,” Leia scoffs, reminding me yet again of the problem at hand.
When my mom announced Vance would be coming over for family dinner, I protested, but she wasn’t hearing any of my excuses. When I threatened to take my dinner upstairs and hide in my room while he was here, my mom put her foot down and said in no uncertain terms that I will have my ass at the table at 6:00, end of story. I immediately ran upstairs and called Leia, wanting to have someone else there as a buffer between the two of us. The only problem is I haven’t asked her yet. I have no doubt she knows why I called her in the first place, but in true Leia fashion, she’s going to make me ask her before putting me out of my misery.
“No one asked you.” I grab a wrap dress my mom got me last year for Christmas from off the bar in my closet before turning to the mirror.
“That was the exact definition of a question, Selina.” Leia snickers into the phone as I hold the dress in front of me, turning left to right. “Now, are you going to tell me why having Vance come over for family dinner has you in such a tizzy?”
I toss the dress on top of the pile and take a seat on the end of my bed. “I just don’t want to be with him alone, with both of my parents. My mom has been dropping hints she would be more than happy for the two of us to pick up where things left off.”
“She isn’t the only one.”
“Whose side are you on anyway?”
“Yours. And that’s why I refuse to come to dinner unless you can give me a very good reason why you need someone to run interference between you and Vance.” Leia pauses, and I hear a rustling noise and the sound of a door opening and closing.
“What are you doing?”
Leia completely ignores my question as she continues. “You still love him, Selina. We all know it. Is it really that bad for you to spend some time getting to know each other again?”
“Yes, because I’m leaving. He has a life here. He can’t just pick up and leave Tyson’s Creek just because we get back together, and it’s naïve of me to think he’d do it.”
“You don’t have to leave, Selina.” Leia sighs as I hear a door slam shut in the background. “No one knows what the future holds. Instead of worrying about things that might happen, worry about the here and now.”
“You’re starting to sound like Audrey,” I grumble, flopping back on the bed.
Audrey Wilde is Bristol’s longtime best friend and the resident free spirit in the group. She reads tarot cards to help “guide” her to make the best decisions for her and her daughter, Love. I don’t pretend to understand how a deck of cards can guide your decisions, but Audrey finds comfort in the cards, so who am I to say whether they help or not? The more time we all spend chatting about the universe and how everything is connected has gotten me thinking about fate, wondering if there really is a driving force that leads us down the path that we are meant for. Was it my misstep or was it the universe intervening and leading me down a different path than the one I had chosen for myself? I’m not saying it’s not possible, but if I admitted that, then maybe giving Vance another chance is what is meant for me.
“Although I don’t believe in reading tarot cards and the universe giving us signs like her, there’s nothing wrong with living in the moment.” The sound of Leia’s voice brings me back to the present. “So again, I ask, why are you so afraid to see Vance?”
“Why isn’tI don’t want toa good enough reason?”
“For someone who doesn’t know you’re still madly in love with him, sure. But for me? Not a chance.”
“We kissed when he came to the dance studio on Monday.”
“You what?” Leia screeches as I hear someone storming up the stairs. My bedroom door flings open, slamming loudly against the wall.