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“Sure has. Strange how it all just melts away and seems like no time at all has passed.”
“Tell me about it.” She sighs. “I can’t believe I’ll be back to the hustle in no time at all.”
“Are you really going to check out the stadium with him before you leave?”
She laughs, resting her head back on the headrest. “Yes, I think so. I owe it to myself, don’t I?… to learn a bit more about the game.”
I laugh too and shake my head. “I think you’re going to need more than one tour of the stadium to work all of that out.”
“Maybe so.” She sighs. “So… anyway, back to you and Taylor.”
I glance at her. “What about me and Taylor?”
“I don’t want you to get hurt, Em.”
I look back out the windshield as I navigate traffic. “I appreciate that, Mads. I really do.”
“You two are like magnets, you always were.”
I smile. “Yeah, it’s all kind of surreal. I mean, we’re not getting back together or anything. It’s just nice being around him again.”
“And you kissed him,” she points out.
“Yeah, there is that. It was just an impulse thing,” I say to her.
“You sure that’s all it is?”
I shrug. “I don’t know, Mads. It’s always tricky with him.”
“I know.” She smiles. “Hey, it’s up to you what you want to do, Em. I’m just looking out for your welfare. I know how hard it was for you last time.”
“Thank you,” I say appreciatively. I know at the end of the day she has my back. “Nothing is going on, honestly. It’s just good things being kinda normal again with him.”
“You still look good together.” She sighs.
I laugh. “Well, he looks good. Nothing’s changed there… but enough about me and Taylor, tell me more about Ashton… When’s the wedding?” I laugh.
She gives me a playful shove, and we both laugh even more. I tease her most of the way home about their future baby names. Anything to distract me from thinking about Taylor... It’s making me nervous how comfortable I'm feeling with him. Maybe Maddison is right, and I need to reel it in a little.
This is Taylor James we’re talking about, not some random stranger. The man who has my heart, but also has the capacity to crush it to a million pieces, like I did to him all those years ago.
Maybe the time is to be careful and not look too closely into what could or should have been.
Maybe the time is to just be carefree and fly.
I don’t have all the answers, but something in my heart wants me to jump headfirst into the unknown. I’ve just got to decide which way I’m going to go, and if I’m going to follow my heart.
* * *
Taylor
I don’t want this putting a damper on the evening by hashing it out with my mom over the past. But I needed to talk to her about it sooner rather than later.
In fact, she’s all smiles when I go over there later, wanting to know how things went.
It surprises me that she’s interested, given everything I now know about her trying to get Emmerson out of my life for good, and she did a pretty good job of it back then.
Our banter is pretty light to begin with. Mom is gushing about the game and gives me a massive hug. “You and the boys really deserve this. I bet Coach Carter was beside himself.”
