Page 10 of Wish You Would

Briar smirks. “So how hard was it for you to make me that cup of tea?”

“I almost vomited.”

She rolls her eyes, stabbing at another strawberry with her fork. “Next thing you know, you’ll be running me a bath and massaging my feet.”

“That would be a first.”

Her brow lifts curiously. “A foot massage or taking a bath?”

“Both. Feet are gross and baths are a waste of time.”

“You really need to learn how to relax, Holden. Live alittle. You can be a little uptight, has anyone ever told you that?”

“No. I’ve been told I’m hard to resist. But never uptight.”

Briar’s lips slightly rise at the corners, and I wait for her mouth to turn into a full-blown smile. It’s quickly become one of my favorite things about her.

“So I’ve heard,” she continues. “You have quite the rep in Reed Point.”

“Don’t believe everything you hear,” I say, brushing off the comment. I know the rumors she’s talking about. I’ve heard them for years. But it doesn’t make them true. “There are three sides to every story.”

Briar looks like she’s about to say something but seems to change her mind, instead lifting a forkful of whip cream and strawberries to her mouth. Sitting here at the kitchen table with her makes me realize that it’s been a long time since I’ve shared a space with another person. Tucker moved out a year ago, and I broke up with my ex, Aubrey around the same time.

Aubrey was the first girl I had seriously dated in a long time, and I cared a lot about her. I always got the feeling that Tucker and the guys didn’t really get our connection, but when it was just the two of us, we had a lot of fun. But after 18 months or so, we started having problems. She wanted to talk about our future, about marriage and kids, and I didn’t feel ready for that. I’m not even sure if I want to be a father. The tension between us grew and we were arguing over things that didn’t matter, nit-picking each other constantly. Over time, I could feel her pulling away from me, and in response to that I started pushing her away.

For a while, I wondered if I should have fought harder to save the relationship, but when things between us got difficult I took that as a sign it wasn’t meant to be. The writingwas on the wall, and I didn’t want to drag it out any longer and make it harder for both of us.

Looking back, I believe it was the right decision, but ending things with Aubrey still messed me up. She took it pretty hard, and it broke my heart to hurt her like that. It felt like yet another relationship that I couldn’t make work. So, for the last year, I’ve sworn off relationships. I’ve sworn off hookups. I’ve starved myself of intimacy over the last 12 months. And I’m not ready to open myself back up.

Silence stretches between us for a minute as we both continue to eat our breakfast, until I motion to her plate with my fork. “You’re not hungry?”

“I’m not much of a breakfast person.”

“Not even bacon? No one can hate bacon.”

“Relax, Mr. Clean. Just eat. And no, not even bacon. I hate all pork.”

“Then what do you eat in the morning?”

“I don’t. Why is that so hard to believe?”

“It just is.” I shrug, taking a bite, and dammit, it is good. Annoyingly good. “What about eggs?”

“Gross.”

“Sausage?”

“Nope.”

“A breakfast burrito?”

“Dis-gust-ing,” she says, drawing the word out. “Are you done now?”

“Nope.” I pop thep. “Breakfast is an important meal. You should eat something.”

“I like fruit,” she says, sucking whip cream off her finger. Jesus, she needs to stop doing that. “I’ll eat the rest of my strawberries to make you happy.”

Is she not starving by lunch? I want to ask her morequestions, but we’ve shared enough over the last 24 hours. I’m also in a rush to get to work.

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