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Even if the love went south, it’s not who she was. If she’d married Mike and they split, and there was something big to be paid out, she still wouldn’t do it. She’d just walk away.
But she remembered Whitney had this problem. That her ex tried to take their house during the divorce. Trey hadn’t said a word to her, but Whitney did once say the house was in her parents’ name when it was built and never went to her until after her divorce.
Maybe her parents suspected something like that would have happened? Again, not her business.
Her business was the man in this room that she loved that hadn’t been completely honest with her.
When their dinner was done two hours later and cleaned up, she decided to take her leave. The two friends could talk, but she needed to clear her head.
She drove by Whitney’s house and saw the lights on. She knew Trey was working because she’d talked to him yesterday.
She debated all of five seconds before pulling in the driveway and texting Whitney to see if she could talk.
When she got the response, she shut her car off and went through the garage when it was opened up for her.
“What is going on?” Whitney asked. Her sister-in-law had a massive baby bump in front of her, due in a few weeks, which meant any day now. It just reminded her that she should have gone home and let Whitney rest.
“I’m sorry. I’m being selfish. I shouldn’t be bothering you.”
“Nonsense,” Whitney said. “Come sit down and keep me company. Ben is sleeping and there isn’t anything good on TV. I’m trying to take my mind off of how uncomfortable I am and how much your brother is driving me nuts wanting to wait on me like he thinks I’m going to break.”
“He’s nervous and that’s sweet,” she said. “I don’t think he was like this with Ben.”
“I don’t know,” Whitney said. “I never asked and it wasn’t my business.”
“He wasn’t. He was concerned about Ben being healthy and Kathy taking care of herself, but that was about it. He didn’t love her like he does you. That means more.”
Whitney rubbed her hand on her belly. “It sure does. Something tells me you need to talk about Rick though and not your new niece.”
“Yeah.” She told Whitney everything she learned tonight, knowing she could trust her. “What do you think?”
“I think I understand where you’re coming from. You told Rick everything about Mike and you feel like he didn’t share the same.”
“Exactly. I don’t want to compare him to Mike, but it feels to me like Mike wasn’t honest either. He never came out and said he didn’t want to marry me. Just that he wasn’t ready. Why couldn’t he be honest and just say I wasn’t the one? We could have saved ourselves so much wasted time.”
“No one knows the answer to that and they may never,” Whitney said. “It doesn’t matter either.”
“No,” she said. “What matters is Rick.”
“You need to talk to him about this,” Whitney said. “Don’t let it fester.”
“I know. I will tomorrow. But I wanted to see what someone else thought of it too. If I was wrong to feel the way I was.”
“You’re entitled to be hurt, Gillian. Whether I agree or not, those are your feelings and emotions and no one can tell you otherwise.”
“You’re right,” she said.
“That being said, it sounds to me like Rick is a lot like Trey. He carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. You said he admitted that he blamed himself for what happened with Colleen and Dean. And that Dean even admitted that he pushed everyone away?”
“Yes. I did find it odd that they were so close and yet Rick never said much about him anymore.” She should have asked more before and didn’t.
“As I said, talk about it. Rick is a smart guy. My guess is he knows he might have messed up but knew it wasn’t the time tonight to talk to you about it.”
“I don’t have much of a poker face,” she said, sighing.
“Neither do I,” Whitney said. “It’s not a bad thing either. Give Rick a chance. I’m sure it will work out, but remember everything you learned from the past and put it to use in the future.”
“Good advice to have.”
