Page 46 of After You

“You want Hannah tostay?”

Well, that wasn’t the right question. Or at least not the question he wanted to answer. “I want Alice to think I want Hannah tostay.”

Derek nodded. “Because Alice wants her tostay.”

“And because Alice needs to get overthat.”

“Gotit.”

And Kyle had a feeling that Derek really did. His friend was laid-back and no fuss, but he was insightful ashell.

“And how do you want Hannah to feel about all of this?” Derek asked a beat later.

“I want… I want her to want to stay,” Kyle said, honestly. “Of course. I think everyone who comes to Sapphire Falls should want tostay.”

“You know,” Derek said with the tone of voice that indicated he’d been thinking about something and was about to impart his version of wisdom.

Kyle steeled himself. Because sometimes Derek really nailedit.

“I’m pretty sure Hannah knew when she decided to stay in Seattle that you were never going to go out there to be withher.”

Kyle frowned. No, he’d never had any desire to go to, or live, in Seattle. Not that she’d asked. And he’d been way too pissed and hurt to think about going after her. He shifted on his seat. “So?”

“So maybe she was trying to just make a clean break. Maybe she knew that coming back here, or even having you ask her to come back here, would have been too hard to say no to. And maybe, if you weren’t willing to go after her, maybe she thought that what you guys had wasn’t really truelove.”

Kyle felt his scowl deepen. “You’re an expert in love? The guy who thinks spending a major holiday with a woman is a deep commitment?”

Unfazed, Derek shrugged. “Look, Hannah was the perfect woman for you. I’ll give you that. But…maybe that was the problem.”

“Meaning?” Kyle asked, wondering why he was encouragingthis.

“Meaning, on paper, you and Hannah were the perfect match. And that’s how you both always did things…on paper. You write them down and cross them off. You had your whole life plan laid out, but in the “marriage and family” space, you needed a name. You saw Hannah’s perfect hair and matching everything and her daily planner, and you immediately put her in that blank. And then, when things veered off course a little, you crossed heroff.”

Kyle didn’t reply. He gritted his teeth, though. Because he was coming off as an ass here, and he didn’t likethat.

“And I don’t think you can be pissed that she might have crossed you off her list too,” Dereksaid.

Kyle felt surprise ripple through him. Hannah had crossed him off her list when things hadn’t gone according to the plan? Her plan had changed, and she knew that he wouldn’t change with it, so she’d found a new name to write in the “marriage and family” space?

Dammit. He really hated that this woman was making him continue to question things.

He glanced over to where Hannah and Michael were sitting together. They were each working on their laptops, across the table from one another. They weren’t talking. They weren’t even touching. The guy was sitting right there and he wasn’t looking at her, wasn’t asking her what she was reading online that was making her frown, wasn’t watching as she lifted her coffee cup and dipped the tip of her tongue into the whipped cream on top. He didn’t even have his leg pressed up against hers under the table.

What a fucking idiot. Supposedly they weren’t a thing, but that meant Michael Kade was a complete dumbass.

“You know, you were very insightful with Scott about Peyton the other night,” Kyle said, swinging back to face Derek.

Derek nodded. “I’m awesome.”

“That wasn’t the word I was thinkingof.”

Derek tipped his head. “You two are just annoyed that I notice things that you don’t.”

“Why don’t you quit noticing things about our girls?”

The second he said it, Kyle knew he was in trouble.

“Our girls, huh?” Derek said with a smirk. “Does Michael Fucking Kadeknow?”

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