Page 18 of The Heart Shot
“So, instead, you setmeup with him?”
“Jameson is a great guy, Elsie. Why are your walls up before you’ve even had a full conversation with him?”
“I’m not talking about this.” I picked up speed, beelining for my car.
“If this is about your parents—”
“Maya, stop.” I screeched to a halt, swinging to face her. Any earlier happiness, contentment, or even my ravenous hunger disappeared in the wake of her words. Any faint trickles of admission that she might be right vanished at the pain and anger the memory of my parents brought up.
Maya’s face softened. “Els, it’s been years. I know it was hard on you, but—”
“I said stop,” I whispered, my eyes burning with unshed tears.
My best friend didn’t relent. “I know you’re lonely, Elsie, and you’re not the type of person who is meant to be alone forever. Jameson is a good guy, and your chemistry was insane. Just give him a shot.”
I shook my head, killing her words in my mind before they could take root like a bunch of weeds.
“I’m taking a rain check, too. I’ll see you later,” was my only reply as I made it to the other side of the field, and all but ran to my beat-up Civic.
“Elsie,” she called, but I didn’t stop.
“I’m going to give him your number!” she threatened.
My eyes and throat burned with tears I tried so hard to suppress, keeping my retort in my mouth.
You can cry in the car.
Right now, I didn’t care if Jameson had my number. All that mattered was getting away from here, from the words Maya had said, and from the memories they dredged up.
Maya yelled something else, but my grief drowned out the words.
I shoved it deep, deep down inside, back to where it never should’ve surfaced from.
And by the time I got in the car, I was numb once again.
Jameson
I’m only giving this to you because I love you both and want you two to be happy,” Maya explained over the phone after she’d sent me an unknown number in our text thread. “Elsie’s too stubborn and seemingly incapable of getting over her reservations about dating.”
I squeezed the phone between my ear and shoulder as I finished putting my clothes into the washing machine.
“And you think I’m the one to make her happy?”
“I have no doubts, Jam-Jam. If you saw what I saw yesterday, you wouldn’t doubt it either.”
I sighed into the phone, plopping down on the couch. My dog, Luna, all seventy-five pounds of her, curled onto my lap like she thought she was a two-pound Yorkie. A vanilla-tobacco scented candle burned on the mantle, though it didn’t do much against the smell of Luna. I made a mental note to give her a bath later before forcing my attention back to my cousin.
“Don’t you think your friend would have an issue with you giving her phone number away to strange men?”
“I told her before she left the sunflower field that I was going to and she didn’t say anything.”
“So naturally you took that as a yes.” I rolled my eyes so hard it made me dizzy.
Surely if Elsie had wanted me to have her phone number, she would have given it to me herself. Maya was going to make me look like a creepy stalker.
And yet, the idea of having Elsie’s phone number made me…giddy.
“It wasn’t ano.”
