Page 47 of Until We Weren't

Thank you! What do you have in mind? A little flirting wasn’t a bad thing, was it? Destiny thought as she replied. The three little dots appeared on the screen then the words.

I’ll surprise you. See you Monday.

Destiny chuckled. This was such a role reversal for them. Destiny was the one who usually surprised Faith, but not anymore. Is this what their relationship could be going forward?

Can’t wait, Destiny replied.

She sat back against the couch and smiled. “Slow down,” she said softly. It would be easy to get caught up in these happy feelings again, but she remembered what happened last time.

The next day Destiny went over to her parents’ house for Sunday lunch. Her dad loved to grill on Sunday afternoons and burgers were on today’s menu.

Destiny helped her mom get the rest of the meal ready in the kitchen.

“I talked to your brother this morning,” Gretchen said.

“How is Mr. Wonderful?” Destiny replied.

“Very funny,” Gretchen replied.

“If you don’t believe he’s Mr. Wonderful, just ask him,” Destiny teased. “I talked to him this morning, too.”

“Oh?” Gretchen said with surprise.

Destiny chuckled. “We do talk to one another, Mom. He had a deal on a couple of work trucks for me if I was interested.”

Gretchen stopped slicing a tomato to look over at Destiny. “He does give you his price for vehicles, doesn’t he?”

Destiny smiled. “He’s one of the top car dealers in the state. I’m not sure he did that by giving his sister a vehicle at cost.”

“He’d better have given it to you at cost,” Gretchen said, pointing the knife at Destiny. “I’ll call him back after lunch.”

“Mom!” Destiny exclaimed. “I’m kidding. Of course Chase gave me the best price, just as I do for him on landscaping when I can.”

“You’d better,” Gretchen said. “Y’all are family.”

Destiny shook her head and prepared the lettuce for the burgers. “I told him about what happened with Faith. I thought he was going to come up here and hunt Gloria down.”

“He’s your big brother,” Gretchen said. “No one messes with his sister.”

Destiny chuckled. “Yeah, Chase is a good brother.”

“I wondered how you felt about Gloria.”

“I’ll see her again someday,” Destiny said. “What she did wasn’t just unprofessional, it was despicable.”

“Faith feels such regret for not talking to you about it,” Gretchen said.

“I know. We spent the day together yesterday.” She felt a flutter in her stomach thinking back to her time with Faith.

Gretchen smiled and looked over at Destiny. “Good for you. I would think now that you know the truth you wouldn’t want to waste any time being apart. You were both hurt and sad for so long.”

“Look, Mom. I know you want us to get back together, but it isn’t that easy,” Destiny said. “First, it’s the way we broke up and her trust issues. Now she tells me that she trusts me completely and should have all along. On top of that she wants to give up her family. I don’t want her to give up anything for me.”

“Honey, she’s not giving up her family for you,” Gretchen said. “She’s giving up her family because she wants a life of trust and love. She wants that life with you!”

“But to give them up?”

Gretchen sighed. “Didn’t they give her up long ago?”