Page 141 of Love Unwritten
“I seriously doubt that.”
I rub the back of my neck. “I just said that we want very different things in life. That we’re all wrong for each other, even if it feels right.”
“Do you seriously blame her for friend-zoning you? You were practically begging for it!” Dahlia shouts at the phone.
I can’t help sneering. “Either way, being friends is a stupid idea.”
“Yeah, maybe it is, but it’s safer than giving someone like you a chance.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re a handsome, closed-off, grumpy single dad with a tragic backstory, which makes you hazardous for her heart.”
“You think I’m handsome?”
“No,” Julian answers in the background, and I crack a smile.
“I know you may not want to be her friend, but unless you’re ready to be more, that may be the best you’re ever going to get.”
The idea of Ellie and me remaining friends doesn’t sit right. “I don’t like it.”
“I didn’t expect you to, but it’s the truth. You pushed her away, so now you have to find a way to draw her back.”
“How?”
“Be her friend. Let some of your walls down. Give her a fighting chance to earn your trust, and I’m sure she’ll let you do the same.”
“I’m trying to be more…open.” The last two nights were a good start—hell, a great start—for someone like me.
“I know how hard it is for you to trust people, let alone someone who broke that trust once before.”
“She made a mistake.”
“The fact that you’re calling it that says a lot about your progress.”
I take a deep breath. “I know she is one of the good ones…”
“But you’re still worried about letting her in.”
My head hangs. “Yeah.”
“I understand. I felt the same way about Julian after my broken engagement.”
“But you eventually let your guard down.”
I can hear the smile in her voice. “Yeah, and it was the second-best decision I ever made.”
“What was the first?”
“Letting go of the past and building a future together.”
The idea sounds great in theory, but I can’t simply snap my fingers and forget everything that made me the person I am today.
Maybe you don’t have to.
Letting go doesn’t mean erasing the past. It means acknowledging the person I was while working to become the man I want to be.
This is my second chance to get things right. My previous relationship was never meant to last, and I take partial responsibility for it falling apart because our foundation was never solid to begin with.