AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Exactly.” Hope nodded vigorously. “You might think you’ve met ‘the one,’ but you have to get to know them. That’s the whole point of dating. And you were always picking guys who were completely unavailable. They didn’t even live here.”
“Neither does Landon,” Audrie pointed out.
She felt pretty proud of herself that she’d made the best point so far. The only point that mattered. But then her heart hurt, knowing this wasn’t some story they were telling. This was her life.
Audrie looked down at her hands clasped on her lap and continued. “I’ve just done what I’ve always done. I’ve picked a guy who will never live in Corbin.”
Poppy cleared her throat. Audrie lifted her head to find them both looking at her, as though the two of them knew something she didn’t.
“I don’t really want to say anything about your city,” Poppy said. “It’s your town. It’s adorable and all, but…”
“But there’s a limited number of guys here,” Hope said.
“I mean, there’s Christian,” Poppy said.
“He’s no longer available.” Audrie smiled at her new friend.
Poppy returned her smile. “Those are nice words to hear. But he can’t be the only single guy in town.”
“He pretty much is,” Hope said. “Orwas. He’s the only one we haven’t already dated. Most people move away from here, or they stay and get married and have a family. This isn’t exactly a town for single people.”
Audrie laughed. “Yeah, the nightlife here consists of getting ice cream shakes at the Corbin Diner.”
“It’s the only place open late,” Hope explained.
Poppy nodded. “So, dating someone who doesn’t live here is your only choice, right?” Poppy looked from Hope to Audrie.
“Right,” Hope and Audrie said at the same time.
“That means falling for guys who don’t live here is the only choice,” Poppy pointed out.
Hope glanced over at Audrie before saying, “Well, I went out with a guy that lived about fifteen minutes away. It didn’t work out, but we did get to see each other regularly. And when you see each other regularly, it becomes clear much faster that you don’t have anything in common.”
“I guess spending every day together in a small town where your movie’s being shot counts as seeing each other regularly,” Audrie said.
She couldn’t believe those words had come out of her own mouth. They were the ones trying to convince her that falling for Landon wasn’t that absurd a concept.
“Exactly,” Poppy said. “You’re going to have some broken hearts along the way to finding Mr. Right. That’s just called living.”
“And you’ll never know unless you let yourself be vulnerable,” Hope said. “It’s not like you can’t go slowly. Spend time together, get to know each other.”
“If he really is falling in love with you, it’s already moving pretty fast,” Poppy pointed out.
Audrie took a deep breath and let it out. How was it possible these two women had completely changed her mind on Landon Dixon? Suddenly, she felt foolish for running off the set like that.
Had she been so afraid of being hurt that she hadn’t given him a chance? And what if she did that with every relationship she had? But more importantly, if she let Landon walk out of her life, she’d never know what might have been.
“I have to go,” Audrie said.
“Where are you going?” Hope looked over at the door. “Don’t you have a customer coming?”
Oh yeah. She couldn’t exactly go running back to Christian’s ranch and pour her heart out to Landon. She had work to do first. She had commitments.
“Landon’s not going anywhere,” Poppy said. “Just finish up your day and go home and change into something dressier. Then go sweep the guy off his feet.”
Audrie looked down, tempted to ask what was wrong with what she was wearing, but she decided to let it drop. Right now, she just needed to focus.
They were right. If she wanted to make a big, bold move to show Landon she was ready to give this a shot, she should look her absolute best. She should also come up with the best words possible to show him she really was ready to give this a go.
