AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I didn’t want to go back to my life before dating her despite how shortly we’d been together.
If the only way of preventing that was to get better at talking, then I guess I knew what to do.
Eyeing the door, I considered how long I’d have. She said she had errands on top of talking to Kimberley, so that was probably about an hour. Maybe an hour and a half.
Not much time to work with, but I’d manage.
She wanted to talk? Okay, I would, but I wasn’t doing it empty-handed.
It hadn’t escaped my notice that she hadn’t eaten a lot yesterday. Unsurprisingly, since she was fending off her father and trying to smooth the conversation, the tension wasn’t great for eating to begin with.
Alfredo was her favorite, though, and it was a shame she hadn’t gotten to enjoy it to the fullest.
I couldn’t change what had happened before; there was no time machine for me to use and redo that dinner, but maybe I could salvage this.
First things first, I needed to check what ingredients she had on hand. Knowing her there’d be the stuff to make homemade alfredo, and I could work from there.
My plan in mind now, I gently nudged Fig off my lap and marched for the kitchen. I had a lot of things to do and not nearly enough time to do them in, but I'd make it work.
Chapter 17
Beatrice
Kimberley sat across from me at the diner’s table, her chin resting on a hand as she eyed me curiously.
“So, what’d you call me here for? Not that I don’t love talking to you, but it felt kind of urgent.”
I rubbed the back of my neck while ignoring the sticky sweat, flashes of the almost fight with Will and the miniature one from earlier coming back in droves. “Honestly, I just really needed to talk to someone with relationship experience. Usually I’d go to Alice, but it’s her brother I’m dating. MIght be too weird for her. Mom would be next in line, but the last thing I need is Dad overhearing and falling into overprotective mode.”
She nodded, complete understanding clear. “Dennis is the same way sometimes. So, what’s going on?”
I leaned my elbows on the table and grimaced. “Will and I almost had a blowout this week. Someone at the grocery store made a comment about us getting married and he…kind of freaked. Then we went to dinner with my parents to formally introduce him as my boyfriend, and of course Dad scents blood like a shark.”
Rubbing a hand over my face, I sighed. “Dad brought up kids and marriage and stared holes through his head the entire time we ate. To be honest, I thought for sure Will was going to snap at me when we got home. Call it all off because it was too much for him.”
Kimberley’s face darkened, and I quickly went on. “He only did a little bit, to be clear, but he was avoiding the entire mess for a while, and it irritated me. I finally got him to talk but basically had to drag it out of him.”
She didn’t seem reassured by that. Snaking her hand across the table, she took one of mine and said.
“You had to nearly fight to get him to discuss it with you?”
I nodded, perfectly understanding her wariness. “I did, and that’s part of why I called you. I need someone with an outside perspective that isn’t biased to tell me if I’m overthinking this.”
She straightened, nodding as if this were some kind of business deal. “Right, let’s hear it then.”
Grabbing the nearby glass of water for something to do with my hands, I started. “I’m a bit worried about how hard communication has been. We’ve had issues with it before, but this really drove the point home. I’m hoping that this was just a high-stress situation and he did not want to face it, but that could easily become a bigger problem later. You know, this isn’t the only hard topic that can come up throughout a relationship.”
A nod, and she leaned back. “You’re not wrong about that. Lack of communication is one of the biggest things that’ll end a relationship. What happened the last time you guys lapsed on it?”
I bit back the urge to sigh. “Before we were dating he kept giving me mixed signals if he wanted to be more than friends or not. It got to the point I cornered him over it and basically told him to figure his mess out. It took him a month and me getting attacked before he finally did just that. Now this situation. He just shut down, left, and wouldn’t talk to me about it until I basically forced him.”
Kimberley grimaced. “I can see why you’d be worried then. It sounds like he has a history with the whole ‘lack of communication’ thing. Just pushing things off and hoping they’ll go away. I’d be wary, too.”
Dang it, I was hoping she’d tell me I was overreacting. Leaning more weight on the table, I continued.
“Our communication is one of my biggest worries, but there are others. When he panics, he tends to retreat and hide from everyone, even me. The first time it was for over a month and yesterday, while shorter, was equally as frustrating. He won’t let me help or even try to when he gets spooked, and I…”
I trailed off, and she picked up with an understanding smile. “You’re worried he’ll just leave one day?”
