Page 37 of It Happened Back Then
I frown. “What?”
“Oh, Bennie, it was so obvious. The time I came here, and you took me to the bar? I knew she was in love with you from the way she looked at you. Plus, there was the way the entire town took ownership of you two. I saw some of your texts and heard the way you two spoke to each other.” She shrugs. “I mean, I can’t blame her. Look at you.” She giggles.
“We have a very complicated relationship.”
“Yes, yes, I know you stepped in when her dad passed away. I can see how she would latch on you.”
I frown deepens. “Latch on? Savannah, it’s not like that.”
“I know it’s why you moved back here and why you took the job at the Luxury.” She shrugs again. “It's why I came. I needed to see it for myself.”
“See what?”
“If it’s just teenage dreams or if there's room for me.”
I take a breath to steady myself. My initial reaction is to tell her there is no room here for her. But if Blossom won’t ever commit, I can’t count myself out from finding love with someone else.
CHAPTER 16 - BLOSSOM
“Hello? You decent?”
I roll my eyes. “Yup. Just watching television.”
“You better not have gone onto the next episode without me.”
Bennett enters the living room and, like always, his presence makes my heart race. He’s so handsome, with a boyish look, but under that innocent exterior I know he’s a grown man.
“When you didn’t show last night, I got bored,” I point the remote at the TV and turn it up a notch.
I went to the Luxury last night with a clear purpose. With a rapidly beating heart and words I practiced over and over, I was going to tell Bennett I want more. I want more than the lingering looks and touches, the subtle innuendos of our conversations.
I was going to lay it all out on the line, make a case for how good we are together. I was going to tell him how natural it feels with him, how easy it is to fall back into rhythm like no time has passed, how it’s always been himsince we were ten, since before I even understood what love really meant. Only how he made me feel.
I was going to tell him I’d been a fool to ever push him away, even if part of me still believes it was the right thing at the time. He wouldn’t be where he is now if I had let him stay in Bluemoon. He needed to grow, and I’m not sorry for giving him that time, even if it was his father who put that fear in me. But I do feel bad that I acted like I didn't care he was gone. I regret acting like I was glad he was dating when, in actuality, it killed me.
I planned to admit the secrets I held onto and let him in on each one. How his dad spoke to me and about the secret that almost changed both our lives. Instead, I let it only change mine, and I’ve been holding onto that silence for far too long. I want to tell him all this not to hurt him or make him pity me, but because he needs to know the truth. I need to clear the air between us so we can move forward. He needs to know the choices I made and that they were to protect him.
But none of it happened.
Not. One. Word.
“You couldn’t text?”
“Are you mad at me?”
I purse my lips and shrug, still staring straight ahead. I know I’m being childish, but I need him to tell me she’s here. Why is he keeping secrets? I almost laugh out loud at that thought. Secrets seem to surround us.
Last night I saw something I feared may happen. It took me a moment to focus on what I was seeing, but my heart broke when I saw Bennett at a small table by the bar sitting with a blonde woman. I knew it was her before I even saw her face. But when Savannah’s eyes connected with mine for a brief second, I saw red, and hers lit up.
I don’t believe she was that nice girl she portrayed herselfto be when she came to visit years ago. The same one who partied with my sister for her birthday. The one who said she’d give Bennett space to figure out his schooling. The one who called me the cute best friend.
No, it was all a scam. She was conniving and manipulative. And some of the things Bennett would say over the years, I knew they never came from him directly. She was in his ear.
I turned around and left the restaurant. I drove straight home and waited for Bennett to show like he usually does after a shift. I waited for a text, a call. But he didn't. And then my mind circled all night, keeping me up with imaginings of what they were doing together.
It’s not my place to tell him he can’t date her. It’s not my place to even say I’m upset about it. We’re not anything to each other anymore.
Right?
