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Around four o’clock, I decide to reach out to Hadley. Something I’ve been dying to do all day but haven’t yet. I don’t want to come off as too eager, but I want her to know I’m looking forward to tonight.
Me:How’s your day been?
Her response is immediate, which makes me smile.
Hadley:Pretty good! Yours?
Me:Better by the minute.
Hadley:Oh, yeah? Why’s that?
Me:It’s almost 6
Hadley:Oh, do you have something special happening then? ;)
Me:Just getting together with my smoking hot neighbor. She’s got this long dark hair and these gorgeous blue eyes and a smile that takes my breath away.
I hold my breath, wondering if I pushed it too far after just preaching to my family about needing to take it slow.
Three little bubbles pop up and disappear three times before her text comes through.
Hadley:My my, what a lucky gal. Such flattering words. Quite the charmer, aren’t you?
Me:You ain’t seen nothing yet. See you soon.
Hadley:Can’t wait.
Can’t wait.
She can’t wait.
Why did my heart just start beating harder at those two simple words?
The one who got away.
Maybe she is. All I know is that I’ve never felt this excited about a date that’s actually a non-date before. Or a date, for that matter. She’s more than what I just told her she is. More than beauty on the outside and that’s what I’m looking forward to most. Getting reacquainted with the girl who caught my attention all those years ago in a way that I never stopped thinking of her.
A part of me wonders if I’ve hyped her up in my head too much and it’ll be hard for her to live up to my expectations but a bigger part of me thinks that’s not going to happen.
I hear a light knock on the door and Brock’s head pokes in.
“Can I come in?”
“Sure.” I click save on what I’m working on and twist in my chair to face him. “What’s up?”
“Just wanted to say, I had more patience than I thought possible when it came to Naomi and it was worth it. Every bit of it. I get it, you don’t want to rush but I also understand racing to catch up on all the time you missed now that she’s here again. When Naomi got divorced, I felt like I finally had my chance but when was it too soon, you know? If Hadley’s reached out to you, it’s a good sign that she’s ready. Maybe not for a relationship, but she’s heading in that direction. My opinion, anyway. And I promise we won’t be our normal nosy selves or try our best not to. But I gotta say that I haven’t seen you smile as much in the past ten years or more than you have today. Not with any other woman you dated. Not even Simone, who you came close to proposing to and thank fuck you didn’t because she was a cheating manipulating ass.”
“You just had to bring up Simone’s name, didn’t you?”
“Only to remind you of how much better is out there. And when she’s ready, and you’re ready, if this thing tonight extends to more nights and time together, the family will want to officially meet her and if I have to have a talk with them before we do that, I will.”
The corner of my mouth ticks up because I can just see how that conversation with, specifically my mother, would go. She’s an amazing mother and loves us like crazy, but she also has a hard time not involving herself in our lives.
“Thank you. Means a lot to me.”
“Take it from me, someone who sat on the sidelines for too many years loving someone because I missed my chance by not having the courage to go for it, when the right woman comes into your life, don’t let her slip away. The good ones? They’re precious and deserve the world. Just don’t let some other guy be the one to give it to her.”
I nod my head, swallowing hard. “Message received.”
