AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, how romantic!”
Kelly made a face. “Yeah, except they didn’t tell me. She just went behind my back and arranged everything with Veronica. Told her to keep my schedule open. As though I didn’t handle wedding arrangements professionally and couldn’t help her.”
“Maybe she wanted to do it her way and was afraid you’d take over?”
“I don’t take over! Do I?”
Rylie watched her thoughtfully, as if gauging her response. “Well, sometimes you get very…assertive with your opinion. But in a good way.”
“How can that be taken in a good way?”
“All right, forget I said that. Perhaps she went behind your back because she knows you’re very busy and that can sometimes make you distracted. Maybe she just wanted to make your life easier?”
“Maybe. She’s organized for Chris’s parents to come…and Chris.”
“And is this good?”
Kelly sighed loudly. “It would be…except I told Chris I loved him last night.”
“Oh wow. I was wondering why you called me so late for a ride. Why didn’t you tell me? What did he say?”
“He said, “I know.”
Rylie’s dark eyes narrowed. “Um, no he didn’t.”
“Yeah, but it’s kind of our thing. It’s the Princess Leia and Han Solo bit. So, I don’t think he thought I was serious, but still it was painful to just lay there next to him.”
“I can imagine. I’m sorry, Kelly.”
Kelly took a bite of her cupcake, sighing over the sweet frosting and light, fluffy cake. “It’s okay. I was just laughing because here I am, months away from being thirty-two, and I feel like I’m only twenty in dating years. I’m years behind everyone else. Plus, Chris and I keep having misunderstandings and I am just so tired of trying to figure out what the heck is happening between us.”
Rylie shrugged. “I always thought Chris was really smart, but now, I’m convinced he might be a dumbass.”
Kelly didn’t really think Chris was purposefully being obtuse. She was pretty sure after their talk last night there was deeper stuff going on.
“I think it could just be that we aren’t in the same head space. Cassidy broke up with him less than a month ago and I know he said it wasn’t working, but maybe he’s still hung up on her. That would make sense. Meanwhile, my feelings for him have been growing stronger every year, with no one else except him in my life. No men, I mean.”
“I get it. I always had a feeling there was more between you and Chris, but I thought you two were just keeping it on the down low,” Rylie said. “Still, I think Chris is right there with you. I’ve seen the way he watches you. Maybe he’s just scared?”
“Last night, he told me he was afraid I couldn’t love anyone else as much as I loved Ray.”
“Is that true?” Rylie asked.
“No.” How could she explain it without trivializing the seven and a half years she’d been with her first love? “I loved Ray with my whole heart, and would have married him, built a life with him. He took a part of me with him when he died, and he was hard to get over. But what I feel for Chris is…more mature? It’s had time to grow and now, I want him to just realize that I made room for him a long time ago without realizing it. That there is no competition.”
Rylie drummed floral print-painted fingernails on Kelly’s desk, her eyebrow quirked. “So maybe you should have stayed last night and explained that this morning, instead of running off?”
“Okay, I don’t need you to be a smartass.”
“Sorry, but every time Dustin and I have had issues, it’s because one of us wasn’t being honest and open about how we were feeling. I truly believe that everyone’s lives would be better if we just talked to each other instead of being so scared.”
The scene from A Few Good Men flashed through Kelly’s mind as Jack Nicholson screamed, “You can’t handle the truth!”
Still, Rylie was right. Everything that had gone wrong with Chris and her had happened because they couldn’t put what they were feeling into words.
“I’m trying to follow your advice, but it is hard.”
“Everything worth having is hard to get. If it were easy, the results wouldn’t be as rewarding.”
