Well damn. She probably did it to have something to do on a Friday night since she wasn’t here.
Looking up, he glanced around the bar and saw all the usual members of their group–Kendall, Shauna, Alex, Jimmy, and Bianca…yeah, they were all here.
Maybe it was time he got Chelsea up to date on that situation.
Drew: So Jimmy and Bianca didn’t get married
Chelsea: ???
Drew: Apparently all the things we said to them made them both stop and think
Chelsea: So they broke up?
Drew: No
Chelsea: Oh.
Drew: It’s a whole big thing. Can I call you later when you get home?
Chelsea: We’ve been over this…
Drew: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you don’t think it’s a good idea
Chelsea: Exactly
Drew: And yet you’re still talking to me
No response.
One Mississippi. Two Mississippi. Three Mississippi…
Drew: Aren’t you the least bit curious about what’s going on?
Chelsea: Okay, maybe a little
Drew: What time are you going to be home?
A smile was tugging at his lips because he knew she was trying to find a way to get out of it, but her curiosity was getting the better of her.
Chelsea: After nine
Chelsea: Probably closer to 9:30. I plan on grabbing some takeout on the way home
He wanted to offer to pick some up for her and meet her at her place, but for now, he was happy that she was going to talk to him.
Drew: Great! I’ll talk to you at 9:30
Chelsea: K. Gotta go. Client should be here any minute.
Drew: Talk to you later
She didn’t reply and it didn’t matter.
Feeling better than he had in weeks, he pushed his beer aside and went back to where Jimmy was waiting to shoot some darts with him. It would be a great way to kill the next hour before he left because there was no way he was going to call Chelsea from the bar. He was going to be home and sitting on his own couch with no distractions.
She was enough of a distraction.
And maybe, just maybe, they could put all this crap behind them and start over.
Or just…start.
16
“Oof!”
Faceplanting on the bathroom floor seriously wasn’t part of the plan.
Coming home, showering, and putting on something other than her boring cotton panties was.
When her client didn’t show–the rat bastard–Chelsea had all but sprinted from the building and then sped across town to get home. It was another GrubHub night and she had come to terms with it.
She knew the plan was for Drew to call her, but she had a feeling he might show up at her place instead.
And she wouldn’t hate it.
Even though she would pretend that she did to his face.
Secretly, she wanted to see him–or not so secretly. She was completely open and honest with herself about how much she missed him. And if everything he’d been saying about missing her was true and if he really was sincere about wanting to take her out someplace…if he said any of those things to her face, she’d cave in a heartbeat.
Which was why coming home and showering was so important.
And so was the shaving of pertinent areas.
A girl can’t be too prepared, right?
Now, as she struggled to get to her feet, she prayed she wouldn’t be sporting a fat lip along with her favorite sexy underwear.
Moving in close to the mirror, Chelsea inspected her face and almost sagged with relief before glaring at the rogue shoe she had tripped over. In her haste to get in the shower, she had stripped all over the bathroom.
Lesson learned.
Quickly, she brushed her teeth, moisturized from head to toe, and cursed the fact that she hadn’t had a pedicure in almost a month.
“First world problems, Chels. Focus!”
After that, she slid on the sexy undies along with a nightshirt that had a cartoon sheep walking upright in slippers and a sleep mask, with the words “Sheep Walker” underneath it. It was pretty darn cute if she did say so herself, and hopefully Drew would get to see it.
Why put on the jammies instead of clothes? Well–and she thought it was a fairly brilliant move–if Drew did happen to show up, he would think he was surprising her. Would she be all dressed just to be hanging out alone at home? No. Chelsea felt it added some authenticity to the situation.
Or maybe she was genuinely going insane and needed to talk to a shrink.
“Authenticity,” she murmured. “This is all completely normal.”
Her food was due to arrive any minute and she still had to dry her hair.
“Decisions…decisions…” Opting to put on just a little makeup–not too much, mind you–she kept her hair up in a towel until after her dinner was delivered. Then she could blow it dry quickly before she ate.
Everything was coming together. All she needed was to not freak out and try to relax.
Easier said than done.
Twenty minutes later, she shook out her hair, pulled on her robe and studied her reflection. She looked good but not like she was trying too hard. She felt like should Drew show up, he would never know all the effort she put into looking like she hadn’t put in an effort.
Yeah, I definitely need help. I should look up psychologists tomorrow and make an appointment.
Out in her living room, she turned off the overhead light and left on one small lamp that sat on her end table. Then she set up her dinner–Chinese again–on the coffee table, before turning on the TV and immediately putting on HGTV. It didn’t seem to matter what show was on; she’d watch it.
It was barely nine o’clock so she knew she could eat in peace without having to rush–which was good because The Property Brothers deserved all of her attention.
Hell, they deserved everyone’s attention.
“Those are some fine-looking men.” She took a forkful of sesame chicken and watched as the brothers walked across the screen on their way to help a family of four find a new home. “I would totally let them find me a new home.” Then she paused. “If I had money to buy a home.” Yeah, her condo was a rental, but someday she hoped to own a place of her own.
And perhaps own it with her husband.
“If I ever get one of those…” she added with a weary sigh.
Pushing that thought aside, she focused on her dinner and the Scott brothers. And when her phone rang at exactly 9:30, she wasn’t sure if she was surprised so much time had passed or pissed off that Drew was actually calling and not ringing her doorbell.
Muting the TV, she picked up her phone and saw his name on the screen.
“Hey,” she said, hoping she sounded neutral.
“Hey,” he replied, sounding very relaxed. “Is now a good time?”
“Yeah, why?” They had agreed on 9:30 so…
“I just wanted to make sure you got home and had time to eat before we got on the phone,” he explained. “So if you need to finish eating and want to call me back, that’s fine.”
Well, that was kind of sweet.
“No, I’m good. I just finished.”
“Great! So how was the rest of your night? Did everything go okay with your last client?”
“Oh, um…they never showed.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. Seriously. And that was after they called begging for this after-hours appointment!”
“That’s just rude.”
“I agree. That’s the last time I agree to do something like that.” She shook her head and got comfortable on the couch. “I emailed my boss and let him know because I’m starting a new narrating gig next week and won’t be back in the clinic until Thursday.”
“Is there anything he can do? Can he fire the client?”
Laughing softly, she replied, “Unfortunately, no. But he can still bill them since they didn’t call in advance to cancel. That usually gets t
heir attention so they don’t do it again.”
“Still, it kind of sucks that you had to stay late when it wasn’t necessary.”
“I guess, but it’s not like I had anything else to do.” Chelsea immediately snapped her mouth shut and wanted to kick herself for admitting such a thing. “I mean…”
“No, no…I get it. For what it’s worth, you weren’t missing anything tonight. The crowd was kind of lame and everyone’s being weird so…”
“So they didn’t get married, huh?”
“Yeah. I didn’t find out about it until a little over a week ago.”
“Really? But…why? You were still there at the resort. You didn’t go to the wedding?”
“There wasn’t a wedding to go to,” he said slowly, as if explaining it to a child. “And…okay, basically, after you left, it was a bit of circus.”
Was it wrong how that made her smile?
“Why?”
He began to explain how Bianca came to the room looking for her and she almost choked on the imagery.
“You’re lying!” she said, but she was laughing.
“I’m really not! She waltzed in like she was the freaking queen or something and was expecting you to just be sitting there waiting to be her maid of honor!”
Sadly, it wasn’t all that hard to believe. It was typical of Bianca.
“I’m not going to lie; it was very satisfying to throw her out after I told her off.”
“Well, thank you for defending me. You still should have gone…”
“Then Jimmy showed up,” he interrupted.
“Oh?”
“And we fought and I told him that I wasn’t with you to help him. I told him I was with you because I was attracted to you–that once we didn’t have his fiancée acting like a puppet master, we found out that we actually liked each other.” He paused, his voice gruff and very, very yummy. “I told him I didn’t agree with what he was doing and then I threw him out.”
He had already told her that part via text, but she still couldn’t believe it. “Really?” she asked quietly.
“Yes, really. Chels, I feel like we’ve let other people dictate this relationship–even when it was barely a friendship. Can’t we…”
This time she was the one to interrupt. “I promise to circle back to what you were about to say, but I still don’t get how they ended up not getting married.”
She heard him sigh and felt a little guilty for not letting him say what he wanted to, but she had to know the full story before she could allow herself to think about the two of them.
“Jimmy went back to their room and Bianca was crying. He was pissed off and said he’d had enough. He told her this whole wedding thing had done nothing but cause trouble, and that wasn’t how he wanted them to start their lives together.”
“Oh, God. Bianca must have flipped!”
“She didn’t talk to him for a week, he said. Apparently, when she got home and talked to her parents, they were upset because they had no idea she tried to elope!”
“They’re a pretty close family so I’m sure they would have been devastated to miss out.”
“So when Bianca finally called him, Jimmy laid down the law a bit and told her she needed to quit playing games and manipulating people to get what she wanted.”
“No!”
“Yup. And before you say that maybe that’s just his version of things, the two of them came over to my place to talk to me and she admitted to it all. Crazy, right?”
For a moment, she couldn’t speak.
So…they go and talk to Drew, who had been vocal about the whole thing, but they didn’t come talk to her? How freaking unfair was that?
“Oh, well…good for you,” she said, even though it practically killed her.
“Okay, before you freak out–and I totally know you are–you should know that they talked about reaching out to you, but…”
“But…?”
“But, I kind of told them not to.”
“What?! Why? Why would you do that?”
“Because it wasn’t the most heartfelt get-together,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“It was like they were saying, ‘Okay, we get what you’re saying, but you were still a dick,’ and honestly, it felt a little forced. Like they were expecting me to apologize.”
“And did you?”
“Hell no! If they–or should I say, if she–apologized, I would have felt differently. But there was zero sincerity there, and I knew if she reached out to you, it was only going to be worse.”
“Yeah, Bianca is the queen of the fauxpology.”
“Um…what?”
“Fauxpology. You know, it’s an apology, but not.”
He didn’t respond.
“You know, faux as in fake?”
“Ah. Gotcha. Yeah, that’s exactly what it was like.”
“So how’d you leave it with them?”
Another sigh. “They’re going to go for premarital counseling, and they’re having an engagement party next month.”
Nodding, Chelsea fought the urge to be hurt.
And failed.
“Wow. So…good for them, I guess.”
“I don’t know how much it will help, but for now, they’re trying.”
“Sure.”
“C’mon, Chels. Don’t be like that.”
“Like what?” she cried. “Hurt? Offended? Pissed off? Because it’s not that easy! It pisses me off that I wasted so much time on a friendship that was a waste of damn time. Meanwhile, your bromance with Jimmy was barely affected!”
“We’ve been over this–it’s not a bromance! That’s not a thing!”
“Oh, please. It’s totally a thing and the two of you are the model of it.”
He groaned. “Okay, back to you and Bianca. I think it’s just different for women. Guys get over things and don’t hold grudges. You’ve said that yourself. You can’t really be surprised by any of this.”
“And I’m not surprised, but that doesn’t mean I’m not hurt, Drew.”
“Then go see them,” he suggested. “I’ll go with you.”
She snorted with disbelief. “Great. So we have a repeat of the disaster we had in Bluffton. Awesome.”
“It won’t be like that…”
“Yeah, no. I’m not looking to get kicked in the face again. And honestly, if I was going to go anywhere with you, it certainly wouldn’t be to see Jimmy and Bianca.”
If.
If I was going to go anywhere with you.
Shit.
This was getting him nowhere.
He knew it was risky to tell her about his meeting with their friends, but he believed in being honest with her.
And instantly regretted it.
“Look, I could have lied to you, Chelsea. I could have simply left off the fact that they came and talked to me, but I didn’t want to do that. You deserve to know the truth.”
“I get it, I do, and I appreciate it. That doesn’t make it any less hurtful.”
“Dammit, I thought I was doing a good thing, like I was protecting you.”
“By telling me how they were willing to see you and not me?”
“But they were willing to see you!” he clarified. “I meant I thought I was protecting you by talking them out of it! I know I felt shitty when they left because it was all so anticlimactic. And after witnessing the way Bianca was toward you and the way she carried on after you left, I didn’t think you’d want to deal with that. So…I’m sorry. It wasn’t my call to make.”
Then he held his breath and hoped she understood and wasn’t going to be even angrier with him than she already was.
As if that was even possible…
“I’m really beginning to feel like this is all too much, Drew. The hurt, the drama, the constant misunderstandings…” She paused and sighed. “The only way I’m going to be able to move on with my life and feel good about myself is to completely distance myself from all of it.”
Uh-oh…<
br />
“And that kind of means that you and I probably shouldn’t talk anymore.”
“Chelsea, wait! Don’t say that!”
“Not saying it won’t make it any less true. You are always going to be friends with Jimmy, but I’m no longer friends with Bianca. How could anything possibly work? I would never ask you not to hang out with your friends, but I’m never going to want to do that with you. So…”
Okay, she completely had a point, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.
“There’s got to be a way,” he argued, feeling more than a little desperate. “I don’t want to lose you.”
“Believe it or not, I really don’t want to lose you either, but…there’s no way this can work, so…I should probably go.”
“Chelsea,” he pled. “Please. We need to talk about this. You can’t keep running away!”
“Excuse me?”
Probably not the smartest way to convince her…
“You ran from me in Bluffton, you’ve been running from me for weeks, and you’re running now. We’re both adults and we should be able to talk about this logically. Maturely.”
“Are you calling me immature? Because if you ask me, you’re the one who’s immature.”
“Okay, fine. I’m rubber, you’re glue. Now we’re both acting like children. Happy?”
She groaned before responding. “This is what I mean! This isn’t healthy! I swear, it still feels like we don’t even like each other!”
In that moment, Drew knew he’d had enough. “Not like each other? Why? Because we don’t get along 100% of the time or because we don’t agree with everything the other says? I hate to break it to you, Chelsea, but that’s the way things are in normal relationships! It’s okay to disagree! It’s okay to get mad! And I don’t think this is a matter of not really liking each other; I think you’re using it as an excuse to back off.”
“That’s not…”
But he didn’t let her finish. “I’m not going to keep chasing after you,” he said gruffly. “I can’t. I feel like that’s all I’ve been doing and there’s only so many fiery hoops I’m willing to jump through before I need something in return.”
“So…what are you saying?”
Swallowing hard, he said, “I’m saying that…you win. If this is too hard for you and it’s not what you want, then…okay. I won’t bother you again.”
Wrong Turn: Road Tripping Series Page 19