AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I never thought I’d hear him say my name again. I thought...I’m at a loss. I hand him the bag. He crouches in front of my chair. I’m so afraid to wake up right now. He’s just...everything. And he’s looking at me like he’s memorizing my face. And then he frowns. “Hey. You broke up with me.”
My lower lip quivers. “I know it was shitty of me to break up with you in a voicemail. I’m sorry. My emotions were out of control. I was just so worried. When I didn’t hear from you...I assumed the worst.” My stomach clenches around the memory of that fear.
He nods. “It’s tough on the family. To worry and wonder. I get that.”
“But...I wasn’t your family. I was a nobody. You could have died and I would never have known. I got scared.”
“Hey.” He cups my jaw and forces me to meet his gaze. “Don’t ever think you’re a nobody.”
“You know what I mean. I was feeling real feelings—but what we had wasn’t real.”
“Wasn’t it? It felt real to me. It still feels real.”
It feels real to me, too. But I don’t think he understands who I really am.
“I don’t know if I’m the same Dixie that you think I am. I’m not like her all the time. I’m boring and plain and—”
“When I saw you across the room, before I knew who you were, I felt something. I even felt shitty because it felt like I was cheating on you to be attracted to, well, you. That’s how fucked up our lives are right now. But I didn’t think you were plain or boring, Dixie. I wanted you. And I want you now. And I wanted you the first night you texted me. And I’ll want you fifty years from today.”
This is a dream. It has to be a dream. I have a couple choices here. One of them is to not believe this is happening. And one of them is to listen to my heart. But then I have to be brave, and I’m not exactly known for stepping out on limbs.
But it’s Leo. If I don’t try, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.
“I noticed you too. When you walked in. I thought you were handsome—hot but broody. Are you always that broody?”
“No. Yes. I don’t know. I’m kind of a grouch, I’m told. But I was extra broody today because my girlfriend dumped me this week.”
I laugh only I think I’m crying a little too. “Your internet girlfriend?”
“Very funny. What do you say we blow this party and go on a real date?”
“Um, it’s my goddaughter’s baby shower. I’m not ditching. Also it’s your goddaughter’s baby shower. So you can’t leave either.”
He shakes his head ruefully. “We share a goddaughter.”
Life is so strange. “Yeah, we do.”
“Why didn’t we meet at the wedding?” he asks.
“I couldn’t go.”
He picks up my hand, explores it with his fingertips. “We would have been together this whole time then.”
“I don’t think you would have noticed me.”
“I don’t think there is a world where I wouldn’t notice you.” His hands are so big, but he’s so gentle with me. Like I’m made of glass. “What are you doing after?”
“What do you have in mind?”
“House hunting? A trip to Vegas and a jeweler?” I grab the paper bag again. “Fine, fine. Dinner?”
––––––––
Leo: Are you wearing panties under that skirt?
Dixie: Stop it. We are at a baby shower. Put your phone away.
I NOTICE JIM NOTICINGLeo texting me from across the room. He shoots a look at Merrily and she holds up a five-dollar bill.
