Page 95 of Actually Yours

“I can see that.” Sort of. My eyes are going crossed from re-reading those five simple words. “But what does he mean?”

Bella pushes a plate of cookies towards me and I take the biggest one. It’s been two days since I left my heart on Jake’sdoorstep, and all I’ve gotten from him is this one lousy text message.

“I’m officially done with text messages,” I tell her through a mouthful of cookie, spraying crumbs and not caring one bit. “They have caused me nothing but angst.”

“It’s true, people run into trouble when they communicate without actually talking.”

“So, do you think I should go and see him? Just talk this out once and for all?”

“No!” she yells in sync with Lilly, who’s standing behind the counter, listening to our conversation.

“What we mean,” Lilly says as I look between them, baffled, “is that you need to wait for him to come to you.”

Bella nods and I sit back with a sigh. This is not what I wanted to hear from them, given that the waiting for Jake to make a move is killing me.

“Do you think Robby has convinced him to not pursue something with me?” This thought has plagued me every minute since I left the two of them to hash it out. “I should have stayed and helped Jake plead our case. It shouldn’t have been just on him to fix this.”

Lilly sits down at our table, her forehead wrinkled with sympathy. “I think you did the right thing. They’re brothers. You had to leave them to sort out their relationship.”

“It’s true,” Bella agrees. “You don’t have any siblings who you’re close to, but that dynamic isn’t always smooth sailing. It’s like having a best friend and your biggest rival all in one. And you will love them even when you hate them.”

Their words go some way to soothing my concerns, but the fear gnawing at my stomach just won’t go away.

“Maybe I should just bow out?” I offer half-heartedly, because I really,reallydon’t want to do that. “You know? For the sake of their relationship?”

Lilly shakes her head, an adamant no. “You just need to give it some time and some space. And trust Jake to make it all OK.”

I picture Jake now, with his serious green eyes behind those sexy glasses, his protective and solid nature, the way he asked me to trust him, to know that I’m safe with him. I need to remember this now more than ever.

But why hasn’t he called me?

“He’s most likely just sorting through the whole Robby situation,” Bella says, once again reading my mind. “You know Robby, he’s a man-child who won’t make this easy. That’s what Jake is dealing with right now. Just be patient.”

Patient. I can do that.

“I don’t think I can do that,” I whine into my cup of tea. “It’s been two days. What’s taking so long?”

My friends look at each other, a long, loaded look that has my spidey senses going off. Before I can question them, though, the bell tinkles over the front door, announcing a group of new customers.

“Amelia, I know you’re going through an existential crisis right now,” Lilly says, standing up and moving away from our table. “But are you able to do that over by the window?”

Great, I can’t even wallow in peace.Picking up my cup of tea and plate of half-eaten cookies, I move to a table in a corner up the front of the café, pressed up against the window.

“Way to rub it in,” I mutter under my breath as I take in the table set for one.

They ignore my irrational rumblings, too busy serving customers to deal with my tantrums.Fair.

“Just distract yourself with some people watching,” Bella calls from behind the counter.

Hmmm, people watching. Usually, this is one of my favourite pastimes, watching people and mentally changing their hairstyles to one I think would suit them better. It’s somethingI could do for hours, but not today. Today my mind is too distracted to focus on hair.

My phone pings on the table in front of me and I lunge for it. This has to be him. I open my messages app, which has had quite the workout this week, and…

“It’s not him,” I tell my friends who I know are watching me expectantly. My phone notification is so loud, every person in the café is watching me with the same expression. “It’s my dad.”

In the past week, since we met up for our long overdue father-daughter chat, he’s been in regular contact with me. Sometimes just a text message, asking about my day, and other times he’s actually called and we’ve talked for several minutes. It’s been weird but also delightful. Having him back in my life, and really trying, is filling a hole in my heart I hadn’t known existed until now.

I type back a response to his question, letting him know that I’ll be joining him and his family for Christmas brunch next week. He invited me the day after our initial meeting and after a long talk with Mum, I’ve decided to go. I want to be a part of his life, his family, as much as he seems to want to be a part of mine.

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