Page 95 of To Belong Together
When he’d been embarrassed over his panic attack, she’d helped reassure him with a touch on his shoulder. He returned the gesture now. The winter air had turned the canvas of her coat cold, and she didn’t acknowledge the circle he smoothed over the fabric. She stepped inside, and he dropped his hand, wishing for words. And fewer barriers between them.
She wedged her feet out of her shoes and rounded the corner into the next room. Since his limited vantage point showed the room had a dresser and a bed, he stayed put rather than follow. A door opened and closed. A closet? The packing had begun.
“You don’t have to stay with me.” Her voice came from around the corner, breathless.
Her car was parked in the drive. After dinner with her mom the night before, she must’ve gotten a ride to the shop and brought the vehicle home.
But under these circumstances, he wouldn’t leave her.
He focused on the slice of her room that was visible but only saw her plain blue comforter and the dresser, aged and brown. “Remember how you told me not to lock people out?”
He heard a quiet swish, which was either a sigh or the movement of a thick fabric.
“This is different,” she said.
Gannon and Philip had told him to let the situation with her dad settle, but he refused to let ominous comments keep sliding past unquestioned. “How so?”
“We …” Another noise, this one definitely a deep exhale. “We’ve only been on one sort-of date and here you … what? Left your own sister’s wedding because I did? I’m sure your family was disappointed that you didn’t stay. And then you hired the cavalry to find Dad and sat all day at the hospital. You’ve gone way over and above. I’ll never be able to repay you.”
Of all the words she’d said, one phrase stood out. One sort-of date? That was how she saw their relationship?
“I don’t want to be repaid. As for my family … ” Mom, Hank, and Angie had been disappointed he’d left, but they’d also understood. Kate and Tanner had probably enjoyed themselves more after he’d gone. “I’m not as close with them as I thought.”
And apparently, the same could be said of him and Erin.
“Then you have to fight for it. People don’t live forever, and I don’t want to be another barrier between you and Kate. Family first.”
Was a relationship that had to be fought for that hard worth the cost? Maybe. Family ought to love the way Erin had loved her dad and the way her dad had loved her, but such connections were rare.
Rarer than he’d like, anyway.
What if he and Erin loved each other so wholeheartedly?
He swallowed to clear the longing from his throat before it seeped into his voice. “You’re not one sort-of date to me. I would’ve left with you.”
Perhaps she’d known that. So had she’d delayed telling him about her father until the morning after to prevent him from leaving his family obligations? Or because she’d wanted distance from him—until everything else failed?
A zipper pulled in the bedroom, and the soft plop of a dropped stack of clothing followed. “What was Nicole Deering to you?”
Nicole? Kate had told Erin about Tara, but she’d also brought his ex into it? “A disappointment. I broke it off when I caught her in a lie to hide massive debt.”
No movement sounded from the bedroom for a few beats.
Was she surprised? Troubled?
He’d better continue, cover the ground he knew Kate had dug up. “As for Tara, I asked her to the wedding the day you sent me to a different shop. I didn’t have feelings for her, just bruised pride. I’m sorry.”
“And the bridesmaid I saw you with? Kate said—”
“Kate lied.” He’d told her this in the message, and it seemed like a bad sign that he needed to repeat himself. “The bridesmaid was supposed to lead me to Gannon. She drew that out, but nothing happened.”
Erin didn’t reply, and his indignation welled.
He’d contributed to her suspicion that he was a womanizer by inviting Tara. In fact, he’d also asked Erin out the day they’d met, never realizing he was giving her a reason to someday believe accusations Kate would whisper in her ear.
If only she knew how rarely he invested his heart.
He’d endured enough rejections that he knew to be careful before trusting someone. And he thought he had been with Erin. Too careful, perhaps?
