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Dating Mike wasn’t a good idea. She couldn’t trust him to be honest with her. She couldn’t trust that he wanted her for who she was because in the end he always wanted something that made him feel like he was better than everyone else.
So that was that.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Mike returned from the bathroom to find Rose gone. She wouldn’t have just up and left. She didn’t have a way to get home.
One quick look out the window and he found her standing on the sidewalk with her brother.
He took his seat and watched the siblings hash out whatever it was that they were arguing about. Ethan was just as serious as ever, while Rose looked like she’d been hit by a bus. The more time they spent out there, the more anxious he became.
It wouldn’t take much for Ethan to poison Rose against him. All he had to do was present enough evidence that Mike wasn’t good for her, and they’d be over. He’d been living on borrowed time as it was. Mike knew that better than anyone.
What more could he expect? He wasn’t supposed to have started dating Rose in the first place. Ethan had made that clear. And yet, Mike had ignored his friend and for what? Because he wanted something that he thought he deserved.
This all went back to when he was a teenager. He should never have allowed himself to get to the point where he’d talked himself into this. Now when everything crumbled around him, he was going to end up hurting.
Mike couldn’t take it anymore. All this waiting, wondering what the siblings were talking about—he needed to do something about it.
He got up from his seat after waving over the waitress and letting her know to box up the food that had just arrived. Then he hurried outside.
It wasn’t a surprise to find Ethan’s judgmental stare the second Mike exited the building.
Mike lifted the food so Rose could see. “I’m going to take our food to go. You want to come with me?”
Rose glanced at Ethan and back to Mike. Her brother didn’t give her a chance to respond before he jumped in.
“I’ll bring her back. You can head out.”
“Ethan!” Rose argued.
Mike didn’t wait to find out who would win that disagreement. He already knew Ethan would get his way. The two of them would arrive at the house and Rose would probably tell him that she needed to have a talk with him. That was what he could expect.
This was the end.
As much as Mike wanted to stay focused on the task at hand, he couldn’t get his mind off Rose and the way Ethan had looked at her while they were chatting. He wouldn’t have completely thrown Mike under the bus, would he? Friend or not, that wasn’t the kind of thing Ethan was known to do.
Then again, Ethan had always made his opinion known where Mike was concerned.
Mike stared down at the hammer in his hand, then shook his head and tossed it in the box—the very box that Ethan had been so curious about.
It was the very box that Ethan had been correct about.
It wasn’t something Mike was proud of, but at the time he hadn’t been able to come up with any other solution. He’d needed some basic tools to get the house fixed up.
He’d been desperate.
The sound of a car door closing drew his attention and he moved to the window of his bedroom. Below, Rose had climbed out of Ethan’s truck. She walked around to the driver’s side and gave Ethan a hug, then glanced up at the house. He said something and she nodded before heading for the door.
Mike could hear the door open and shut. His ears strained for any indication that she was coming to find him. The part of him that wanted to see her was quickly overshadowed by his anxiety. There was a very real chance that she’d come up to him and tell him they needed to call it quits.
It would be for the best. Mike had never planned on staying in Rocky Ridge for good. He’d considered what it would be like to have a place like this to call home, but he wouldn’t be able to stick it out—not with Rose and Ethan dragging him down.
He shoved his hands into his pockets and wandered down the stairs. Mike didn’t know where Rose had wandered off to, but she was here somewhere, that much was certain. He just had to build up his courage to see her face to face.
There were sounds in the kitchen when he got to the bottom of the stairs. It sounded like she was digging into the food he’d brought back. Mike moved in that direction, slower than was necessary, and when he got to the doorway, he watched her pull out some of the leftover disposable dishes and cutlery from the night they’d hosted their art show.
He watched her for a few minutes until she sensed his arrival and stopped what she was doing. Rose looked up at him, and even from where he stood, he could see her demeanor was strained at best.
