Page 18 of Romance Reset
“If you say so.”
Marsali changed the topic to more general subjects before they said goodbye and Marsali ended the call. Amelia was tired but not sleepy, frustrated with not getting any feedback from Lincoln regarding their date, and wondering if he did actually hate her after all of these years.
She twisted sideways and flopped back on the couch, groaning aloud. “Why him? Why now of all times?”
Why did she think it was twenty years too late?
Lincoln was very wellaware of Carter’s inquisitive stare at various times throughout the concert, but somehow his nosy little brother managed to keep his peace until the band took an intermission. The moment the music stopped, Lincoln turned toward Carter and said, “Don’t start.”
“Since when did you saying that ever stop me?” Carter said with a wide grin. “Why aren’t you seeing her again?” he demanded, picking the conversation up as though the last hour hadn’t happened.
Lincoln lowered himself into his camp chair and leaned forward to pull a cold water bottle from the cooler. “I have my reasons. None of which I want to share with you.”
Carter continued to glare at Lincoln.
“Wow.”
Lincoln knew better than to ask. Told himself not to but asked, “What?”
“Twenty years later, you’re still in love with her.”
Lincoln inhaled and released a heavy sigh. “I am not in love with her.”
“Fine. Maybein loveis a bad description, but you never got over her. Admit it.”
Lincoln opened his mouth to deny the statement but the words wouldn’t form. “I loved Jill.”
“No one’s saying you didn’t. But seeing Amelia again wouldn’t have freaked you out this much if there wasn’t something still there.”
Lincoln busied himself by taking a long pull from the water and hoped it helped the August heat and the intensity he felt because of their discussion. “I’ve made up my mind. I’m not going to see her again, Carter. Drop it.”
Carter sat back in his chair, and neither of them spoke for a long moment.
“I remember having a huge crush on her. Like, huge. I was so jealous when I’d catch you two making out.”
“Why do you think I let you catch us?” His cell buzzed again and Lincoln pulled it from his pocket to glance at the caller ID.
“Marsali again? Answer it. You gotta talk to her sometime, man,” Carter said.
Yeah, he did. But not here. And definitely not with Carter listening to every word.
Without warning, Carter smacked his hand under Lincoln’s. The phone flew up in the air. Carter grabbed it and swiped to answer in a lightning-fast move.
Lincoln scrambled out of his chair, but Carter dodged him, as agile as ever.
“Marsali, Carter here. Lincoln’s afraid to talk to you because he’s still hung up on Amelia. Don’t let him off the hook. Set them up again, okay?” Carter said, battling Lincoln’s attempts to take possession of his phone. “Yeah. No matter what he says, he’ll be there. I’ll make sure of it.”
“Give me that,” Lincoln said, finally managing to get the phone away from his brother. Lincoln glowered at Carter, his hand so tight around the phone he heard the case crack. “You’re dead.”
Carter grinned. “Just doing you a favor.”
A favor? How was he going to explain things to Marsali now?
Carter stood there beaming like the lunatic he could sometimes be, and Lincoln walked away from his brother with a low growl as he raised the phone to his ear. “Marsali, it’s Lincoln. I’m sorry about that. We’re at a concert and… let me get out of the crowd to talk.”
“Take your time,” Marsali said, her sweet voice filling his ear.
Lincoln moved to the back of the gathering where he could pace since he had a tendency to do that whenever he had to discuss something stressful. “Okay, so… yeah. I’m assuming you’ve already spoken with Amelia?”
