Page 44 of Entwined Hearts
I glanced at the three of them, not really knowing where to start. “I just don’t know if being with him is a good idea,” Iadmitted quietly. “I don’t think I’d survive it if he got hurt again. Or what if we just don’t work out for any number of reasons?”
“You and Weston remind me of my second husband, Arthur, and me,” Louise said, stirring her coffee. “It was hot and heavy. Intense. And he was easy on the eyes, too. Arthur had this way of making me feel alive. It was as if static from the TV was in my skin, and I had been switched off for the first thirty-three years of my life. I’d always been shy?—”
“I don’t believe that for a single second,” Claire interrupted, baffled.
“It's true,” Gran confirmed, nodding. “Worse than our Tess.”
Louise shot them a glare before looking at me. “Arthur woke me up, brought me out of my shell. I think Weston does that for you, too.” Was she right? Was Weston my Arthur? I felt the TV static, felt the switch come on, but that didn’t get rid of the fear that kept me paralyzed.
“And the sex was phenomenal,” she added. I blushed, thinking about the other night at the Bull Pen. It had only made me wonder more what it’d be like with him now.
“We were only married fifteen years before he passed, but I wouldn’t trade those years with him for anything in the world.” Louise brushed my cheek, being tender for once. “Take it from me, honey, don’t waste time wondering what could happen. Just go for it.”
She reached into her bag. “And if you really don’t know,”—she slapped a quarter on the table—“flip it.”
I frowned. “Flip a quarter?”
I looked over at Claire. “It’s a long story,” she said. “But it works.”
“No, I’m not flipping a quarter to make a major life decision. That’s ridiculous.” I came to Claire desperate for advice, and she brings me here to flip a coin? Was she serious?
“I think you already made your decision anyway,” Gran said smugly, shooting me a knowing look. “You’re just waiting for someone to give you permission.”
“You don’t need permission, Savvy,” Claire said. “Nobody is going to stop you or disapprove like when you dated the first time. We just want you to be happy, and Weston will make you happy.”
I chewed on my bottom lip. “I’m just so scared,” I whispered.
“The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward,” Louise said. Claire and Gran nodded in agreement.
My phone buzzed on the table. “Don’t tell me it’s that lawyer guy again.” Louise frowned.
“Different lawyer guy,” I said, chuckling. “It’s Levi. I got rid of the other one.”
She let out a sigh of relief. “Now that would’ve been worth being scared over.”
“Levi Hollis?” Gran asked, and I nodded. “He’s sweet. Nothing like those other Hollises.”
I smiled. “I know. He’s a good friend.”
“We think Tess is crushing on him,” Claire said, grinning.
“Oh Lord, help us,” Louise groaned. “Next thing, all three of you will be crammed into this booth, crying over damn boys.”
“I didn’t cry!”
“You did earlier,” Claire countered with a teasing smile. I scowled at her.
“I have to go to the firm,” I announced, and turned to Claire. “Can you drive me?” I thanked Louise and Gran for their advice. It was definitely something I’d have to think about. But I wasn’t the kind of person who could just jump off a cliff without a care. I needed to know what was at the bottom.
And there was no telling when it came to Weston.
Levi was pacingin his office once Claire had dropped me off, and I was instantly on edge. In the few weeks I’d known him, I figured out he was the calmest person I’d ever met. Nothing rattled him, nothing pissed him off. So to see him doing laps around the office, his usually styled hair mussed and his glasses tossed onto his desk, told me something wasverywrong.
“I think Preston knows I’m feeding you information,” he blurted the second he saw me.
My stomach sank. “What? How?”
“I’m probably just being paranoid, but I went over to our dad’s for dinner last night, and he made a comment about how fast you filed that appeal from the zoning case.” He raked a hand through his hair, a few of the short strands sticking straight up from his pomade. “And he started asking all these questions.”
