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She rolled her eyes. “Since you two first ran into each other in that bar, I’ve been dying to talk to you and she won’t let me. I got here two days ago, and she keeps lying to me about your whereabouts. I had to call Uncle Mike to get in here today.”
What the?
She grabbed my hand. “Levi, I broke your heart. I was so foolish. Diana says you’ve never gotten over me.”
“Wait, Indy said that?” How the hell could she believe that? I racked my brain but couldn’t remember ever letting on that I was somehow still in love with Ashleigh.
“That’s why she’s been acting so weird,” I said to myself out loud. My anxiety skyrocketed. “Ashleigh, listen. I still think fondly of those years we were together. I have a great amount of . . . affection for you. But I . . . I love Indy.”
The words slipped so easily from my mouth that it surprised me. I hadn’t let myself think them, let alone say them, but now they were out there and it seemed like the most obvious thing in the world. “I love Indy,” I repeated. “And I always have.”
“But I broke your heart!” she cried, hitting her palm against the table and knocking tea from her cup.
“Ashleigh, you didn’t love me. You made that clear. We were young. I didn’t know my own feelings back then. I was desperate!”
“Desperate! Well, thanks a lot.”
“No, I’m not good with words.” I gripped my head. “I just mean, I was desperate to be someone’s person.” And I never realized that I already was. “And I did care about you, but we weren’t in love. Leave your husband if you need to, but not for me.”
Her lip trembled. Shit, this was not going well, but the longer I sat here trying to defuse the Ashleigh bomb, the more I panicked about not hearing from Indy. “Listen, Ashleigh. I’ve been trying to get a hold of Diana. She’s at home, right?”
She waved her hand in the air like she couldn’t be bothered. “How would I know? She went for a walk after lunch, and I left before she returned.”
I shot up, knocking over the chair.
“She’s a big girl, Levi. You’ve always been so overprotective of her.” Ashleigh slumped back in her chair and crossed her arms. “I can’t believe you’re only now realizing you have feelings for her. I was constantly trying to keep you two apart.”
“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” I demanded.
“You would have denied it because of Josh. Anyway, you wanted me more. Everyone always does.”
I couldn’t reply to that comment because Gonzo was heading inside. I called him over.
“Jazz, man. Oh, hello . . .” He got distracted by Ashleigh, lowering his aviators and staring at her legs.
“I need to borrow your car.”
“You going after your girlfriend—or should I say, Just Indy?”
“What?”
“She was out front, pale as a ghost. She took off after I said hi to her,” Gonzo said, all the while gazing at Ashleigh. I grabbed his arm. “Shit, man, easy!”
“She was in my car? Which way did she go?”
“I don’t know. That way.” He pointed over his shoulder and passed me his keys.
I raced out to the car and took off as fast as I could, praying to the universe to not punish me this time.
Chapter 37
Diana
Icouldn’t get the image of them out of my head. The expression of surprise and wonder on Levi’s face as Ashleigh threw herself at him, his arms wrapping around her, her mouth on his.
Stupid, stupid girl. Did you really expect him to love you?
I had no idea how long I stood there, stomach churning, staring after them. It was the same feeling all over again as that summer day watching him fall in love with her. The concrete beneath my feet had turned to quicksand, and I was incapable of moving.
