AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Vivian scrubbed at another workbench,her mind whirling with the clash of what she had known to be true an hour ago and what seemed to be true now.
She didn’t know if it changed anything. She still wasn’t sure if she could change the years of heartache and fear at what she had believed had beentrue.As true as if it had happened because in her heart and mind ithadhappened and she’d had to live with the fallout alone for years.
People expect you to learn a piece of information and for your life to change. For you to be like,Oh, wow. My entire late childhood and adulthood were framed wrong and everything I believed wasn’t true, so POOF, let me just change everything now.
She’d watched a documentary on leaving a cult once, and she couldn’t help but wonder if this is what it felt like.
To believe two clashing things at the same time, knowing only one was true.
At least she knew she could count on Cam to finish this job and to work with Tyler while he did it. He wasn't the type of guy to say, "Oh, you aren't interested in me? Okay, forget this job and forget your kid."
If anything, she could count on him because of it. He was the type of man who would double down and do all the right things twice as hard to make sure she felt comfortable and there were no hard feelings.
It would take a couple weeks, but they'd be back to normal. Their group of friends was great and so solid it would be easy for them to just move on.
And honestly, now that she’d drawn a line in the sand, he’d probably find someone really quickly. It wasn't like she moved back to town and hadn't noticed all the women throwing themselves at him. It'd been kind of funny at first, watching him casually deflect all the bodies collapsed at his feet—okay, that was a little mean.
But the truth was he was always respectful as he sidestepped invitations.
Of course, it did start to get old. Didn't these women have any social temperature-taking abilities? He made it obvious pretty quickly he wasn't interested usually.
That's one thing she knew she could respect from him. She’d drawn the line and he would respect it.
Not just because he respected her, but because Cam had an innate sense of self-respect she couldn't help but appreciate.
And on top of that, she felt like their relationship would be even more positive than before.
She's always been on guard in some little way around him, even if she never felt he put her in an awkward situation.
Now that he understood where she stood, their friendship could become even more solid than it had ever been. And she'd have no qualms about Tyler spending time with him because she could answer honestly that she and Cam were the best of friends and that's all it was, so don't get attached in any other way. But she was sure Cam would never let him down.
Sure, the whole conversation had stunk, but they probably should've had it sooner. It would've made things more comfortable for both of them over the last year.
She was just finishing up on the bench when she turned to find Noah standing there, glancing around her garage with a little bit of envy.
"You don't rent space, do you?” He stepped into the shade of the open bay. "I'd love to bring my car in here and play with you one day." He smiled and moved in to stand next to where she leaned against the bench.
Vivian gave him a bright smile. Since Noah had moved here, he'd been easy to love.
He was just one of the best people she knew.
"You coming to debrief me after another meeting with the gentleman lairds?" She couldn’t help but laugh. Noah had somehow managed to land in the middle of those guys without trying.
Maybe one of them should have warned him when the older men quietly moved their headquarters into his café.
"They did have a lot to say this morning in the café. They seem to think I need a waiter so they can be taken care of and also bend my ear as much as they want.”
Vivian snorted. "Yeah, I really see you hiring somebody just so you can stand around. Totally sounds like you, Noah.”
"Hey, I'm not gonna lie, they do have good intel.” He laughed and moved away from the bench, giving a glance around the room before turning back to her. "But that's not why I'm here."
Vivian stopped and gave him her full attention. Noah didn't typically stop by. He texted.
A rush of panic slid through her.
"What's wrong?" All the blood in her body suddenly felt cold. "Is someone hurt? Is everyone okay?”
Noah stepped forward, waving his hand. “No. No, sorry. Everyone is fine. I just…” He stopped and ran a hand over his short hair. “This isn’t something I like to do, but I had to come down here. I sat around thinking about it all morning. But if you don’t know something, then you won’t be able to do something until it’s too late, and then I’d feel bad about that.”
