Page 30 of One Summer Weekend
“Somehow I don’t think mosquito bites in all the wrong places do much for the mood.” The words were meant to be funny, but her tone wasn’t. He could hear how unhappy she was and he didn’t know how to fix it.
“We can’t do this again, Noah. I know we both want to, but we can’t.”
Frustration burned his stomach. “If we both want to, whycan’twe? That doesn’t even make sense.”
“Why are we even talking about this?” She sounded as wound up as he felt. “I thought there was a wholewhat happens on the Cape stays on the Capething.”
“There was. And it did. I was just thinking that maybe what happens in the woods could stay in the woods. Or maybe what happens on Saturdays stays on Saturdays.”
She didn’t laugh. She didn’t even smile.
Noah’s chest tightened when she walked back to the quads and pulled her helmet on. They needed to talk about this, even if he had no clue what he could say to make things better between them.
He could apologize for touching her butt again, but that wasn’t the answer. The problem was not only that he’d wanted to touch her again, but that she’d wanted him to. What had happened on the Cape sure as hell hadn’t stayed there, and neither of them knew what to do with the feelings that had followed them home.
When she fired her engine, he put his helmet on and straddled his machine. He’d let her ride away from the conversation this time, but he wasn’t letting her leave his house tonight until they’d talked about it. They were adults. One way or another, he wanted his Carly back.
The return ride took longer, since she rode slower and seemed to be avoiding some of the rougher parts that she usually enjoyed. Her body looked stiff in his headlights, mirroring the tension in his muscles. They were both going to be sore tomorrow, but he had a growing, gut-churning suspicion his shoulders weren’t going to be what hurt the most.
When they got back to the trailhead and she took off her helmet, he could see that she’d been crying. It explained why she’d been more careful than usual in the woods, and it made his chest ache. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and hold her but, unlike by the river, her body language was clear. She didn’t want him to touch her.
The first thing Carly did when she got in the truck was turn the radio up enough so it would be awkward to talk. She didn’t even change the channel to music she actually liked, which confirmed it. Clearly she didn’t want to have a conversation with him.
He made it almost all the way to his house before he lost patience and stabbed his finger at the button to turn the radio off. “This is stupid, Carly. We’re going to talk about this.”
“There’s nothing to say.”
“Obviously there is or we wouldn’t have a problem right now.”
She shook her head and folded her arms across her chest. “Talking isn’t going to help and will probably make it worse. We just need a little time to get over it.”
“I don’t want to get over anything. I want to get through it. Together.” He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “We can’t do that unless we talk about it. And, to be honest, I’m not sure whatiteven is at this point.”
“We had sex, Noah. It changed everything.”
He opened his mouth to deny it. He really, really wanted to deny that anything was different now. But it was. Their weekend had changed everything, but he refused to believe it hadruinedeverything.
“What happened to it being something fun we did together?” he asked. “Skiing, four-wheeling, sex on Cape Cod, waterskiing.”
“We were stupid to think having sex together would be anything like freaking waterskiing.”
When they pulled in his driveway, he didn’t really have any choice but to put the truck in park, which unlocked the doors automatically. She had her seat belt off and was opening the door before he could respond, but he was able to reach her before she reached her car.
“Carly, you’re right.” She had her hand on the door handle, but at least she didn’t open it. “We were stupid to think what happened between us wouldn’t change anything. It did. But it doesn’t have to be a bad thing.”
“How is it not a bad thing?” she asked, and her eyes were pleading for him to have the right answer. “We can’t ever go back to how it was before, can we? No matter what we do or say, that happened and we’re not going to forget it.”
“We don’t have to forget it.” The sorrow in her eyes broke his heart and he took a hesitant step toward her. “Maybe we shouldn’t. Maybe we should just go with what both of us obviously want.”
“No.” She said it with a finality that hit him like a hammer. “That’ll hurt even more.”
Noah couldn’t wrap his head around what she was saying. They’d loved each other for their entire lives. The sex had been amazing and perfect. All they had to do was take the chance and they could have it all. How would that hurt more than this?
“I need space, Noah.” She got in her car and started closing the door. “We screwed it up and it’s over. I need you to leave me alone.”
“Carly.”
But the door was closed and before he could figure out how to stop her, the engine was running and the car was in reverse. She didn’t look back.
