Page 52 of A Whim and a Prayer

She’d shaken her head a bit too hard. “No, really, it’s going to take a while, so you and Abby just head on home. Please.”

A nerve had twitched in his cheek. “You’re avoiding me, Winnie …”

“No … no I’m not, Beck, I promise,” she’d said with that telltale teeth-scrape of her lower lip that indicated she was fibbing before glancing at her watch and backing away. “Sorry, don’t want to keep her waiting ...”

Yet another lie.

Rifling through her purse, Abby offered him a piece of bubblegum, which he refused before she unwrapped it and popped it into her own mouth. “Every time I’d even suggest the possibility of your friendship becoming something more, she’d get all apoplectic on me, swearing she wasn’t attracted to you that way, which I must admit, made me think she was bending the truth a wee bit.”

“That’s an understatement.” Slapping on his blinker, he downshifted to veer onto Abby’s street, tires squealing as he maneuvered the turn faster than usual. “It’s called lying, Abby, and apparently your cousin is a pro.”

A deflated sigh parted from Abby’s lips as her mouth went flat. “And to think I believed her.”

Beck unleashed a snort that sounded more like a growl, jerking to a stop in front of Abby’s house. “So did I, chalking it up that friendship was all we would ever have.” He rammed the car into gear, leaving the engine running while he slumped over the wheel. His gaze lagged into an empty stare. “But those kisses on the stage, Abs …”—his chest expanded and contracted with a heavy blast of air as a familiar warmth invaded his body—“they made a bonafide liar out of her.” He glanced Abby’s way. “She was feeling everything I was, and we both knew it.”

“Ha! Everybody knew it, Beck.” She paused, brows slanted in empathy. “So … what are you going to do?”

He grunted again. “I’m going to back off.”

Abby bolted straight up, eyes wide. “What do you mean ‘back off’? Back off from pushing for more?”

“Nope.” Closing his eyes, he kneaded his temple, feeling a headache coming on. “From friendship.”

“You don’t mean that, Beck ...” Abby’s voice was a shocked whisper.

“Watch me.”

She placed a hand on his arm. “This isn’t like you,” she said quietly. “You’re just angry.”

“You bet I am, Abby. I’ve been by Winnie’s side since she was a tyke at The Boston Society for the Care of Girls, when she was a holy terror without any friends”—he bludgeoned a thumb to his chest—“and I was the best friend who’d go to the mat for her every single time. And now that our friendship is evolving into”—he squinted at Abby, head ducked for emphasis—“‘something more,’ she not only refuses to entertain the notion, but she flat-out denies it.”

Abby gently massaged his arm. “Wow … you’re really in love with her, aren’t you?”

He scrubbed his face. “Yeah, for all the good it does.”

“She’s just scared, Beck. Afraid she’ll lose you if anything changes in your friendship.”

“Yeah, well so am I, Abs—worried she’ll lose me if it doesn’t.” He sagged back in his seat. “It didn’t matter as much when she told me she didn’t have feelings for me that way because, well, you can’t fight for something that wasn’t meant to be. So I let it go, figuring I’d just accept it and shove those feelings down, hoping someday they’d go away.”

He slashed a hand through his hair. “Now that I know she feels the same, but is turning her back on it”—he shook his head, gaze trailing into a vacant stare—“I don’t know. I don’t think I can accept that anymore.”

“But you’ll talk to her first … before you, you know, back off, won’t you?” Worry threaded Abby’s tone.

Beck gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, his smile melancholy at best. “Sure I will, Abs, for you if not for her.”

“I mean, who knows? The more you bring up the idea of more than friendship, the more she should get used to it, right?”

He peered at her out of the corner of his eyes, his smile dry. “You think?”

She giggled, giving a little shrug. “Well, it is Winnie we’re talking about here, so it might take a few dozen times before anything sinks in.”

His smile faded. “That’s just it, Abs, I’m not sure I’m willing to wait that long.”

She reached to give his hand a light press. “Well, just promise me you’ll pray about it before you do anything rash, okay?”

“Always do.”

“And I will too.” Slinging her purse over her shoulder, she leaned in to give him a hug. “Because she really does love you, Beck.”