Page 96 of Take My Heart
‘Just because he says it doesn’t mean it’s true. Or maybe it was true before he met you.’
‘He doesn’t see me as his girlfriend. We’re just friends who .?.?. do stuff.’
‘And in a week it’s just over? Is that really what you want? For this to end when you leave?’
‘It doesn’t matter what I want. I have to go back to my job, my old life.’
‘Hey, Kate, are you hungry?’ Brody yells from the kitchen. ‘The pizza’s getting cold.’
‘I’ll be there in a minute,’ I yell back.
‘You should talk to him,’ Gina says.
‘Yeah, I know,’ I tell her, but I don’t feel ready to. I’m worried if Brody and I talk, it’ll ruin what we have right now. It may be undefined, but it’s also really good. I don’t want it to change.
Gina and I go to the kitchen. I’m painting the cabinets this weekend so all the doors are off and everything that was in the cabinets is packed away in boxes.
‘You want a beer?’ Sawyer asks me. ‘I brought over that stout you like.’
‘Maybe later.’ I take a slice of pizza. ‘I need to be sober to paint the closet doors.’
‘You guys are working tonight?’ Sawyer asks. ‘It’s Friday. You should take the night off.’
‘Maybe we should,’ Brody says to me as I stand beside him at the counter, eating the pizza. ‘We’ve been working hard all week. We deserve a break.’
‘I don’t need a break. I love doing this! It’s fun.’
‘Is she joking?’ Sawyer asks Brody. ‘I can’t tell.’
‘She’s not joking. She actually likes doing this.’ Brody puts his arm around me, smiling. ‘She’s even got me liking it.’
‘Guess you two are a good match,’ Sawyer says.
He’s right. Brody and Iarea good match, which makes no sense. We’re so completely different. I never in a million years would’ve imagined myself with someone like Brody. But here I am, falling for him more and more each day while tryingdesperately to convince myself he’s not the right guy for me and that I need to forget about him when I go back to Chicago.
There’s no way that’ll happen. I’ll never forget Brody. I’ll never forget these weeks we spent together. I’ve never been this happy, never felt this good, never felt more like myself instead of the person everyone wants me to be.
‘We should head out,’ Sawyer says to Gina. ‘Let these two get back to work.’
‘What’s this?’ Gina holds up the hotel receipt I found in Cam’s car. I left it on the kitchen table next to the pile of receipts for the house supplies.
‘I found it in Cam’s car. I was going to toss it. I just haven’t yet.’
‘I know a guy who works there,’ Gina says. ‘He does night security.’
‘What guy?’ Sawyer asks in a suspicious tone. ‘And how do you know him?’
Gina rolls her eyes. ‘He used to live in Green Bay and hang out at the bar I worked at. I went out with him once. Or maybe twice. I can’t remember.’
‘And you still talk to him?’
‘I haven’t talked to him in over a year.’ She walks over to Sawyer and gives him a kiss. ‘And I have no interest in him so stop acting jealous. It’s annoying.’
‘Do you think this guy would recognize someone who stayed there?’ I ask Gina.
‘Maybe. Why?’
‘I want to know if Cam was staying there the week before the wedding. He said he was staying with a friend, but if that’strue, then why does he have a receipt with his name on it for a hotel?’
