Page 77 of Lovestruck at Sundown
Zara considered Moira’s reply with narrowed eyes and said, “Well, if you’re free tonight, I’d love for you to join us for my brother’s birthday celebration.”
“I’m free.” Moira nodded, her smile reaching her dark brown eyes. “Here’s my number.” Moira pulled a pen from her apron’s pocket and wrote her number on a napkin. “Text me the address. I can be there when I’m done here.”
“Lovely.” Zara grabbed the napkin and placed it underneath her mobile.
“I’ll be right back with that fish.” Moira turned on her heel and walked away.
“This is a trap!” Zara whispered with urgency, seizing my arm with a laugh. “The girl, the food. What do you want from me, Billie?”
“I won’t lie and say I didn’t use your favorite dish to lureyou in.” I took a longer sip of my wine and set the wineglass gently on the table. “But I really want us to talk. I know you’re in the middle of a complicated situation where you want to show your support for William without making Nathan feel bad or feel like you’ve picked a side. And I know I put you in that position, but I’m truly sorry about how things went down. It was never my intention to hurt Nathan.”
Moira returned with the fish and placed it on the table, escaping to the kitchen without a word after Zara and I thanked her in unison, likely picking up on the shift in the atmosphere.
“I’m aware that it was a complex situation,” Zara started to say. “Especially with all the secrecy involving my true relationship with the Sjöbergs. And I don’t want to victimize Nathan because he’s not a victim, and he would kill me if I portrayed him as such, but helovedyou, Billie. He was madly in love with you. He couldn’t shut up about wanting to marry you whenever I talked to him about you, and I would tell him to slow down, but he was so sure of his feelings. And while that happened, Will would tell me howhefelt about you, and you seemed so confused that it made me think things wouldn’t end well. I could see the way you looked at Will, so even if he kept promising he was done with you, deep down, I knew he wasn’t. And I knew my presence in Will’s life made you jealous.”
“It did.” I swallowed hard. “And I’m so sorry.” She had every right to feel the way she did, and I didn’t blame her. I’d probably feel the same if I were in her position. “All I want is for us to start over and see if you could find it in yourself to trust me when I tell you that I love William with all my heart, and I will forever try my best to make him as happy as he makes me. And I loved Nathan, too; I never meant to hurt him. I swear. But William’s … William.”
“I know.” Zara took a deep breath and stared at her platefor a moment. “Nathan’s a big boy. I need to learn how to relax around him. I know I hate it when he gets overprotective
with me.”
“Listen, I don’t have any siblings, but I imagine I’d want to protect them too. So I get where you’re coming from, even if I’ll never know what that’s like.”
“You have me, sis.”
My eyes welled up with emotion, and I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of embarrassment at the vulnerability of sharing my feelings with Zara, so I tried to regain my composure.
“Come here.” She stood and pulled me up from my seat.
I hugged her and couldn’t hold in the tears any longer. “I hated when you called me sis,” I said with a choked laugh.
“I could tell.” She chuckled as she swayed me from side to side. “But we were destined to be sisters, one way or the other.”
We gently broke off the embrace. “So we can start over?” I asked.
She smiled, and for once, it wrinkled her eyes sweetly. “We already did.”
December 15, 2010
William wasn’tparticularly thrilled when I told him Nina had moved in, claiming he enjoyed the privacy of having the entire 9th floor to ourselves. But at the same time, he thought it wasn’t a half-bad idea for me to have some company when he was gone for long stretches of time.
I couldn’t help but sigh at the thought of him leaving again when he hadn’t even returned yet. But I knew what I was getting myself into, and so far, we’d survived his first project abroad.
The wait was finally over, though. I would see him tonight, and the excitement to grab his face between my hands and kiss every inch of it was spiking as every second of the day ticked by.
Nina was fully established in my guest bedroom, and the last couple of days of helping her settle in had been fun. Living together felt different than the first time she and CJ moved in for a few weeks when they were in between apartments. More natural. Better.
CJ called to thank me for taking Nina in, as it made things so much easier for David and him, and promised to take me out for dinner soon as a thank you. He apologized for being so distant, claiming school was keeping him crazybusy, but we all knew he and David were still very much in the honeymoon phase and wanted to keep to themselves.
Nina said she only saw him because they lived together, and even so, he went out mostly with David and other groups of friends.
We agreed to go on a double date before Christmas, and I was excited about hanging out with them in that setting. I missed David too. I hadn’t seen him since he quit back in September.
“Billie?” Nolan said, waving a hand in front of my face to grab my attention. “We’re next.”
“Sorry.” I stood up from my seat. It was our turn to present our final project in front of the class, and I admit that I had been daydreaming through most of my classmates’ presentations. I’d come out of my daze whenever people started clapping, and I would do the same but then I’d quickly retreat back into my mind. Concentrating had become challenging when all I could think of was that I’d be seeing William in a few more hours.
I was so ready for my winter break at school to begin.
