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“I’m just worried about you,” Lane replied. “I just want you to be happy.”
“She is happy,” Mike said, placing the burgers onto a plate. “Look at her. Happy. Now come on inside so we can eat. I’m starving.”
Mike went inside, sliding the glass door shut behind him.
“You can tell me,” Lane said. “Do you think about him a lot?”
That was a complex question. The answer wasn’t easy, either. Mia could go days and weeks without thinking of Grant. And then…something would remind her.
Ice cream. Storms. A funny joke. It was random, and she never knew when she’d be hit by a wave of memories.
Mia exhaled a shaky breath.
“I’ve never admitted this to you, but when I first got here, I used to go to the library. They carried the local paper for the town he’s in. I used to read it cover to cover looking for mentions of him.”
Lane’s mouth hung open in shock. Clearly, she hadn’t been expecting that confession.
“Did you see him?”
“A few times. He’s the sheriff, after all, so he was in the paper now and then. Eventually, I stopped because it felt like I was spying on him.”
Mia had felt like a creepy stalker, combing the pages of a newspaper. Whenever she left the library, it was almost as if she needed to shower. She’d never had a good feeling about what she was doing.
“He’s probably married by now. He could even have a baby,” Mia pointed out. “I’m sure he never thinks of me. It was one night after all.”
“You should reach out. You still think about him, and he might still think about you. This way you’d know for sure. Get some closure on this situation. Then maybe you can start having some sort of romantic life after all of this time.”
“I’m not looking for a man.”
“I know, but maybe you should be. Having a partner in life that you can depend on isn’t a terrible thing.”
Lane was happily married so, of course, she’d think that. Mike was a great husband and a good guy.
“It’s not that easy to find someone you can depend on.”
“This Grant person sounds like a pretty decent dude. Unless you were lying about him.”
“I wasn’t. He was really like that.”
“See? There are men out there.”
“He was probably just being nice. He probably would have helped anyone in my situation. I wasn’t anyone special.”
“He slept with you,” Lane pointed out. “Do you think he sleeps with all the damsels in distress?”
“No,” Mia replied with a shake of her head. Grant wasn’t some sleazy lothario. “No, but that doesn’t mean that he felt anything for me.”
“Doesn’t mean he didn’t. Reach out. What’s the worst thing that can happen?”
Mia looked at her friend aghast that she could even ask that question.
“Humiliation. Acute embarrassment. Brutal rejection. I’m just getting warmed up. Should I go on?”
Lane nodded knowingly.
“You want the fantasy. You don’t want to shatter the image. I get it.”
Mia opened her mouth to deny it, but then snapped it shut.
