I nod slowly. I’m not ready for the night to be over, even though my fingers are frozen and my nose is cold and that hot chocolate was gone hours ago.
“Tomorrow?” I say.
“I have the weekend off, and if we’re lucky, we can get this finished by then.”
He walks around the back of his truck and lowers the tailgate. I follow him, and sit on the back of it with as much space between us as possible.
“That would be cool,” I say. “But wait, isn’t a cold front moving in?”
He shrugs. “It’s Texas. It doesn’t get that cold.”
“They said it might snow.” I remember hearing it on the news today while I was getting ready for school. “We should put it off until the weather is better.”
“I’m done putting it off,” Gavin says. He looks over at me and in the darkness, his sharp good looks make my stomach flutter. “I made you a promise and I’m following through on it as fast as I can.”
I exhale. “If it’s too cold, we’ll need to wait.”
He shakes his head. “I’m really sorry, Clarissa. This is the best I can do, and I’m doing it no matter what.”
I swallow. I wish he’d continue. I wish we could have that talk he begged me to have with him weeks ago. Now it all seems so distant, so unattainable.
“Come on,” he says, hopping off the tailgate. “I’ll take you home.”
On the short drive, the only sound is of the tires on the asphalt, and the low singing of an old rock song on his radio. My throat is filled with cotton balls and all I want to do is talk to him, but I can’t find the words. When he pulls into my driveway, I turn to him and smile.
“Thanks for the ride.”
“You’re welcome,” he says, but he’s not looking at me. “Have a goodnight.”
I climb out of his truck, heavy with the weight of all this regret on my chest. This is because of what he did, but I still wish it didn’t have to be this way. This Gavin isn’t the Gavin I used to know.
Tonight he was distant. A stranger.
He was a contractor—hired help. Not a friend.
Isn’t that exactly what I wanted from him?
And yet, even though we had no fun at all and all we did was work, I can’t help but think that I enjoyed these few hours with Gavin so much more than all the time I’ve spent with TJ this week. I should be happy when I’m with TJ, the guy who likes me and hasn’t lied to me.
But instead, I only feel at peace when I’m with the guy I can’t trust.
And that makes absolutely no sense at all.
