Natalie
The weeks went on, and I slowly settled back into life in Indigo Falls. It wasn’t long before I realized I’d been back home for several months, and I was happy. Truly happy. I hadn’t expected to feel that way in Indigo Falls after everything that had happened.
There were some things I questioned, though. I was enjoying my work at Halliwell Hospital, but more and more I was wondering if I’d prefer a position as a nurse practitioner at a general family practice. I knew I was only on a year contract, so I would be making some major decisions the next year anyway. One of them was my job, sure, but the others felt more important to me.
Even though I was happy, did I really want to stay in Indigo Falls? My best and worst memories had mainly taken place here. I knew if I stayed, I’d have to sell the house. I felt like I was living with my parents’ ghosts, which was also a mixed bag of good and bad. Of course, I didn’t actually feel like the house was haunted. It was just that memories of them, both positive and negative, plagued me as I lived in the house I’d grown up in. Still, it wasn’t worth selling it and moving into something new if I was only going to stay here a year and move on.
These were the thoughts that were pushing down on me as I waited for Heath to come pick me up for our date. He’d toldme to dress up, and I was a little surprised by it. He’d said he had reservations in Atlanta. Of course, we’d gone downtown for dates before, but he hadn’t really made a big deal about it. This time, he’d said he had booked a hotel room for us for the night and that I should pack accordingly.
I was wearing a dress that I knew he liked; he’d said it matched my eyes perfectly. I took extra time on my hair and makeup, but I was still ready with twenty minutes or so to spare. I walked around the kitchen trying to come up with things to do when the doorbell rang. I assumed it was Heath and he was early.
But when I opened the door, it was Tim. “Oh.” My stomach got sudden butterflies when I met his eyes and let my gaze take in his well-muscled form. He was just wearing jeans and a T-shirt, but it looked so damn good on him. “Hey. What are you doing here?”
He flinched a little.
“Sorry,” I said instantly. I laughed. “I didn’t mean it to sound like that.”
“No, it’s okay,” he ginned, making his dimples pop. “I get it. Mom said you asked Lex to look in on Anne and Gilbert this weekend. She forgot and went off with some friends and took your extra key with her.”
“Oh. Okay. Well, it’s just for one night. It’s probably no big deal…”
“I just came to get another key, Nat. I’ll tortoise sit for you.”
I smiled. “Great—they’ll love that.” I turned to rummage through the junk drawer, that in my dad’s house was almost as neat as any other drawer. It wasn’t hard to find the extra key. I turned to him, and I swear I caught him checking out my ass. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.”
Our hands touched as I handed it to him, and I felt that same little buzz of chemistry I’d come to expect. I wish it didn’t happen. It made it a whole hell of a lot harder to move on with someone whodidn’tcause that feeling.
“Well, thanks,” I said, pulling my hands away quickly.
“Can I hang out for a while? I haven’t seen you all week.”
“Oh, sorry,” I looked at my watch, “but I’ve got a date. He’s on his way now.”
Tim’s eyes dropped to the luggage resting neatly against the wall. The smile faded from his handsome face. “Gotcha.” He raised a hand and turned to leave. “He’s a lucky guy,” he said so quietly I wasn’t sure I’d heard him right.
“We’ll hang out next week, okay?” We’d been doing more of that. It was hard in some ways, but in others it just felt normal.
“Sounds good,” he said, but he kept walking.
He hadn’t been gone long when the doorbell rang again. For a minute, I’d thought he’d come back. I opened the door expecting to see him.
But it was Heath. I hated myself for feeling disappointed. Heath was incredible looking in a suit. He looked hot as hell in scrubs, too, but this was just… extra. “You look great,” I said, smiling up at him.
“That’s my line,” he said, stepping close to hand me a dozen roses in a nice vase. “Happy anniversary, baby.”
My mouth dropped open. What?
He chuckled and shook his head a little. “I didn’t think you’d realized. We’ve been dating four months.”
Was that an anniversary people usually celebrated? I’d only dated a couple of guys that long, but we really hadn’t been serious. Were Heath and I serious? I hadn’t really thought so. I knew that we were exclusive, but serious? I wasn’t so sure I was onboard for that, and I’d assumed he was on the same page.
“Happy anniversary,” I said, trying to recover. “I don’t have anything for you…”
He took the roses back from me, set them on the foyer table, then grabbed me and kissed me. It was a good kiss—not sweet, but not exactly steamy, either. When he pulled back, he focused those gray eyes on me and said, “You’re all I need, Natalie.”
I smiled but found myself feeling slightly uncomfortable.
