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“It’s so last minute,” Tali started. “The wedding’s in New York, and all the family will be there, so…”
She stopped. And really, she didn’t need to say anything else. It all became clear.
“I get it, Tals. No need to explain.”
“You’re invited, Jude,” Nina said.
I gave a tight nod. “Tali and I will talk about it when we get home. Thank you, though. I know I haven’t been your favorite person.”
She waved me off. “I remember the past, but I don’t live in it. You’ve clearly changed, and I sure as hell hope I have. I think you’re gonna be around a good, long while, so let’s be friends, okay? Because I’m gonna be around a good, long while too.”
Lydia turned to her and laid her hand on Nina’s cheek. “That was really sweet, babe.”
Nina kissed Lydia’s hand. “You’re sweet.” She laid down her fork. “But I have to stop eating these sweets or my ass won’t fit in my wedding gown.”
“Your ass is gorgeous, babe. Eat your cake and we’ll go for a run in the morning if you’re still feeling it,” Lydia said.
I looked at Tali again. She gave a tentative smile. I had a feeling we were both remembering a different girl in Nina’s life—the one who talked trash like it was her job. Even though I wasn’t going to be at their wedding, I was happy they’d found each other. Nina had been chasing something in college, something she was never going to get from Heather, but clinging on for dear life in the hopes things would change. Pretty sure she’d found her “something” in Lydia.
I grazed my knuckles across Tali’s cheek, wondering when I could stop chasing this girl. Wondering if I would. Would we get a chance to walk together, or would I always be nipping at her heels?
We stayed for a while longer, until Erin and Jin had to get home to relieve her mom of babysitting duties. Lydia’s daughter was with her dad for the weekend, so she and Nina were pretty antsy to spend some time alone together.
Tali and I had planned to stay in her Baltimore apartment, and the drive to her place was quiet. Her head was turned, staring out her window, hands clasped in her lap.
I pulled in front of her building, car idling. She finally looked at me.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“You’re home.”
She sighed. “You’re dropping me off?”
“Yes. No?” I pounded my fist against the steering wheel. “I don’t know. I’m all mixed up right now, Stripes.”
Her eyes narrowed. “No. You don’t walk away. You want to build a life with me? Then you stay and we work this out. If you drive home now, then what? What’s the plan?”
“You’re managing me.”
“I’m talking to you rationally! This is who I am. You’re pissed I didn’t ask you to the wedding, but have you stopped to considerwhy? Come upstairs and we’ll talk. I don’t want you to leave.”
I closed my eyes, letting my low-grade anger out with a heavy sigh. “I don’t want to leave either.”
We parked and rode the elevator to her sixth floor apartment. We’d spent most of our nights at my place in D.C., but we’d stayed here a couple times too.
Her apartment was nice, if edging toward sterile. The walls were painted a pale gray, the floors a sleek, dark wood. Her kitchen was all white, and her bedroom had one pop of color. A painting Blue is the Color’s old sound guy, Charlie, did. It was a watercolor of a Killers album cover, hung right above her bed.
I’d nearly shit myself when I saw another watercolor Charlie had painted hanging in her guestroom. It was of the cover art from Never Again’s first album, my ugly mug right in the center. The painting was soft, colors bleeding into each other, so unless you knew it was my face, you couldn’t tell. But yeah, seeing that on Tali’s wall was a shot to the heart.
While she took off her shoes and plugged in her phone, I wandered into the guestroom to look at the painting again. She came in a minute later.
“I wondered when you’d find that,” she said, coming to stand beside me.
“I saw it a few days ago. I snooped while you were in the shower.”
“You didn’t say anything.”
“I guess I was thinking about it.” I moved behind her, circling my arms around her waist. She exhaled, leaning into me. “How long have you had it?”
