Page 41 of Waiting for Her

“Why what?”

“Why are you two still fighting against being together? You obviously still have feelings for her.”

“I’m honestly not sure that’s true. Six years ago, I did, without a question. But, a lot of time has gone by. Yes, she’s still beautiful and our chemistry is still there, but we’re different people. And now, well, attraction isn’t enough.”

He sits quietly, going over my words, reaching over to pet Rocky. “How’d you get so mature?”

My gaze drifts down to my leg, the accident causing me to reevaluate life at such a rapid pace that in some ways I grew up overnight. His eyes follow and his chests rises on a deep breath.

He was there with me through my rehab. Never wavered, never once let me get cranky about the recovery or give up when all I wanted to do was just that. If Blake hadn’t stayed by my side, I don’t know where I’d be right now. Sure, Kennedy was there, but Blake’s friendship is different. He also was one of the first people I saw, aside from family, after I came to from surgery. Save for Bri in my dreams, that is.

The pain associated with my injury didn’t go away when I got out of the hospital. Or even years later. The doctors are impressed with where I’m at, and they attribute it to my hard work and dedication, as well as the level of shape I was in before the injury.

I don’t have a clue if any of that is true, or if it was a line of bullshit to keep me active, to keep me working to get better. Frankly, I don’t really care. It worked.

“You want my opinion?”

“I always do,” I tell him honestly.

“You need to think long and hard about what you really want. There’s a reason why you’re cuddling with a dog on your couch rather than a woman, and I think you know what that reason is. If she was out of your system, if she wasn’t still it for you, Kennedy would be sitting here. Or someone else. But no one has ever come close to measuring up, have they?”

I softly shake my head. I can’t deny it.

“Now that we got that shit sorted, what the fuck is that smell?”

I grin. My uncle James owns a restaurant named Balance and makes unbelievable food. When I got home tonight, he was in my house cooking. He knew this week was going to be busy and wanted to make sure I had plenty of food in the fridge.

I’m spoiled.

Blake sees the look on my face and his eyes widen as a smile stretches across his face. “Uncle James was here, wasn’t he?”

“You do realize he’s notyouruncle, right?”

“I do. But if I call him Uncle James when I go to Balance, then I get special treatment. Plus, I think he likes it.”

I guffaw.

“You’re so full of it. But yeah, he was here.”

The words are barely out of my mouth before he’s rummaging through my kitchen, pulling containers out of the fridge and heating up my leftovers.

“You got milk?” he mumbles around a mouth full of food.

“Of course.”

He pours himself a glass of milk and shovels a forkful of pasta into his mouth. “Wanna show me your new plays?”

This is why we’re friends. He doesn’t let me dwell on the things I can’t change. He makes me move forward and get on with my life.

Bri

Iwipe mysweaty palms over my jeans and look at myself in the mirror. After I admitted to Grady that I had a miscarriage, I assumed Tuesday morning would be awkward as hell.

But in true Grady fashion, he made everything okay.

My foot barely touches the turf when he runs over to me. “I’m not going to apologize for being angry. Not about you not telling me until last night or about thinking it was a shitty thing to inform me of over the phone. But I know better than to let it eat me up. I spent a lot of time allowing shit in the past to do that and I learned from it. Moving on.”

I press my lips together and shift on my feet and swallow the lump that had formed in my throat at seeing him stride across the turf in my direction. He’s such agoodman and I’msuchan idiot.

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