Page 46 of Don't Remind Me
“It felt like a lot,” I finally managed. “And I tend to push people away when that happens. I know I shouldn’t, but I do. Idid. And I’m sorry.”
She nodded, staring at her plate again.
I wanted to tilt up her chin and peer into her eyes, see what she was feeling. Not being able to felt like being locked in the walk-in, muscles going cold and numb while all I could do was wait.
“I get it,” she said after a minute, one corner of her mouth lifting in a way that was almost sad. “I know all about feeling overwhelmed and pushing people away.”
Right.
Like when she’d broken up with Alec. Her mistake. The thing I’d told herwasn’ta mistake since it had been what she’d needed at the time.
That was what I was doing now, wasn’t it? What I needed?
“And you’re right,” she went on, still talking at her pancakes. “It is a lot. So maybe we take a step back. You’ve done so much to help me with the symposium, and I feel like we make a good team when it comes to the event stuff, so maybe we just stick to that from now on. Not overcomplicate it.”
“Sure,” I agreed, mouth suddenly dry. “Keep it simple.”
It was what I’d wanted. The whole point behind avoiding her in the first place. To pull things back. And now we were on the same page.
I should be relieved.
So why, as I watched her pick at her pancakes, her gaze still avoiding mine, did I feel as though a gaping hole had been carved from my chest instead?
Chapter Nineteen
Dani
“Hey, Dani.”
Neela rounded the bar and filled the three-compartment sink used for glass washing, her long dark hair slicked back in a neat braid that made her thick brows stand out against her golden-brown skin.
“Hey. Sorry, I’ll get out of your way in a minute,” I said, gesturing to my laptop and event binder sprawled out across the bar in front of me. The servers would be here in twenty minutes to open the rest of the dining room, and I liked to be upstairs by then, but I’d hit a stride on the guest welcome packet design and wanted to see if I could get it done.
Neela waved me off. “Don’t worry about it. You’re fine.”
It was only this week I’d worked at the bar again instead of up in Jillian’s office. Something about the atmosphere drew me down here, particularly for my more creative tasks. Maybe it was the colorful paintings on the walls or being able to hear the bustle of prep work in the kitchen—another kind of creativity all its own—but being down here made it easier for me to plug into my artistic juices.
It waspossiblea small part of me also liked being nearer to Jase. For no other reason, of course, than I’d come to appreciate his professional opinion, and I’d missed it last week when he avoided me. I’d meant what I said when I told him we made a good team. I would hate to lose that over something that should never have been a possibility in the first place.
Just then, he strolled out of the kitchen on the way to the office, tossing me a nod as he passed. I nodded back.
It was our new dynamic. Or maybe our old one. He’d ask me to taste a new dish he was workshopping, and I’d ask for his opinion when I needed a second set of eyes on the symposium’s menu design. He gave me a heads-up when the cleaning crew would be in so they wouldn’t disturb me, and I let him know when I was leaving for the night so he could use Jillian’s office to run reports.
No hugs.
No talk of exes.
Simple.
Just like we’d agreed.
“Look who it is,” said Neela, shifting my attention to the front door and the guy who’d just walked in. “Where have you been, hot stuff?”
He was about my age and handsome in a movie star kind of way—lean but fit, short dirty-blond hair styled to look effortless, his strong jaw clean-shaven with the hint of a cleft in his chin. He’d be right at home on the cover ofGQ.
He flashed Neela a dazzling smile, raising his hands as if in surrender, a bundle of dark fabric gripped in one hand. “I know, I know. It’s been a while. I’ve been meaning to stop in, but things at work have been all over the place.”
“I won’t hold it against you as long as you draw my niece another sketch the next time you eat here. She framed the last one you did on the back of your receipt.”
