Page 99 of Love Resurrected
Armed with all my treasures, I make my way up to their floor. As I reach her room, the door opens and out steps Brad. I stop short, not sure what to say or do. I keep forgetting about how awkward this will be with our circle of friends being so small.
“Oh. Hey,” he says as the door shuts behind him. He sticks his hands in his pockets and shuffles his feet. Good, at least he feels as awkward as I do.
“I was just going—” I say, at the same time he says, “I went to—”
“You first,” I say.
“I was just stopping by to check on them. I was going to call you.”
“Oh. That’s fine. You don’t need to.”
His face clouds over, and I can’t tell if it’s relief or something else.
“I’m just going to bring these in.” I brush past him to open the door. He doesn’t move from where he’s standing or say anything to stop me.
“Look, Audrey, we have another visitor,” Sadie trills to the baby who is asleep. “I keep trying to get her to wake up when people are here, but she just keeps sleeping.” She looks down at the baby with a huge smile.
“I keep telling her rest when the baby does, but she doesn’t listen,” Ethan mumbles from the corner, where he’s slouched in a chair with his eyes shut and arms crossed over his massive chest.
“Come, sit.” Sadie pats the bed next to her. “How are you doing? You know?” She nods her head toward the door, I’m assuming to gesture to where Brad just left from.
“I’m good. Great. I just need to decide what I want and move on from there.”
She scoots over and I lie down on the bed next to her, with me on my side to face her and take up less space, the baby between us. “He just had a long talk with Ethan,” Sadie whispers.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.” She looks at me, eyebrows raised. “Don’t you want to know what about?”
“Nope.”
She doesn’t look convinced. I can’t say I blame her since I didn’t even sound convinced. We continue to whisper between us.
“I heard your name come up a few times. I pretended to be asleep.”
“It doesn’t matter. I just need to make the best decision for me.”
“You said that already, what does that even mean?”
“It doesn’t matter if he wants to be with me or not. I need to determine if I want to be with him.”
Her brow furrows. “How does that work?”
“If I don’t want Brad, it doesn’t matter what he wants.”
“Okay.” She draws the word out.
“If I do, and he wants the same, then great.”
“Right.”
“If I do and he doesn’t, then I know and move on.”
“But isn’t that kind of how it always goes anyway?”
“Yes.” I sigh. “Butthis way, I’m in control of what I do and I’m not just waiting around for him to decide or whatever.”
“I think I understand.”
