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“I waited,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Waited for you to call me. Then I called you. Again and again, but you never called back. Do you know how that felt? Especially after what we…” She sighed and glanced around, “After what we shared?”
My heart kicked up. This is what I’d come here to discuss, so I couldn’t chicken out now if I was any sort of man.
“Yeah, I know. That’s what I wanted to talk about,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “I was in an accident. My phone was damaged in the accident, and I spent a couple of months in the hospital.”
“Carl mentioned the accident when we all went out the other day.”
“So, yeah. I’m sorry for ghosting you. It wasn’t on purpose.”
A faint frown appeared on her face. “You weren’t in the hospital for three years, Alex.” Her tone turned ice cold.
What was I supposed to say? Was I supposed to admit I was afraid she’d hate the wounded, depressed man I’d become? Maybe that would have helped. I don’t know, but the last thing I wanted was her pity.
I wanted her to look at me the way she used to. Fuck. Why did life have to be so hard?
“Look, you know about my dad and crap. I didn’t have a lot of people helping me out, so the phone thing didn’t get fixed for a couple of months.” I averted my gaze. “And after two months of me not calling you, I figured, what was the point, you know? What was I gonna say?”
“You could tell the truth, maybe?” Aspyn narrowed her eyes. I could almost see the anger floating off her. “It’s kind of hard not to think you only wanted a one-night stand after all.” She let out a bitter laugh. “You know what the sad thing is? If you’d said you wanted a one-night stand, I would have still agreed. I’d wanted you for so many years, and I was happy to get you any way I could have you.”
“It wasn’t about that.”
Her mouth twitched. “You’re the one who said all that stuff about it not being a one-night stand, about how you wanted something more. You’re the one who gave me the hope there could be more, and then you’re the one who never called back.” Her nostrils flared, and her eyes narrowed into angry slits.
A spark of
anger flared in me, but I tried to force it back down. I could see why she might think that, and maybe if I’d manned up to begin with, this wouldn’t be going that way.
“But I didn’t want a one-night stand,” I said, maybe a bit too forcefully. Her frown deepened. “Like I said, I had the accident. And then things would have been weird after that. I get that I’m the one in the wrong. I’m not trying to offer an excuse. I’m just trying to explain what happened.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Aspyn crossed her arms over her chest. “What did you think was gonna happen? That you were just gonna stroll back into town, and I’d throw myself at you?”
I shook my head. “No, no. I just wanted to be friends again.” I sighed. “Look, I know I screwed things up. I get that. I’m not asking you to forgive me. I’m only asking you to understand I didn’t mean to ghost you.”
She took a deep breath and then pursed her lips, staring at me with those brown eyes of hers, her dark bangs dipping down. After a painfully long time, she just gave me a nod.
What did that mean? I wasn’t sure. She didn’t seem any more relaxed than before, but at least she wasn’t frowning.
We still had business, though. I’d tried to push the idea out of my mind, but I couldn’t help but wonder if Aspyn’s kid was mine. The timing was about right, and it’d make sense she’d be mad if I’d knocked her up and then ditched her.
I opened my mouth to ask, but the words wouldn’t come out.
“What?” Aspyn asked.
“Your daughter.”
“Kadie. That’s her name. Short for Kadence.”
“She looks a lot like you.”
Aspyn smiled. “I’d hope so.”
My gaze drifted to her hand. No ring. “You’re not married?”
“No. It’s not the ‘50s. I can handle a kid as a single mother.”
“Yeah. Not saying that, but I was wondering who the dad is.”
A faint frown appeared on her face. “It’s not important. He’s not in the picture.” Her eyes narrowed. “He made his choice, so it’s better for everyone that he’s not in the picture.”
