Life's Too Short (The Friend Zone #3)(30)

“You should try to figure it out. You know, you’re really lucky. Most people don’t have the means to live differently, or to make drastic changes in their lifestyle, pack up and take six months off work and still be able to pay their bills. But you do.” I shrugged. “So do it.”

He looked amused. “Just do it? Just pack up and go.”

“Or stay. But make time for other things that aren’t work. Find balance. Find joy. You are the kind of man who can’t see the shapes in the clouds. And it’s not because you lack imagination. It’s because you’re too busy to look up.”

He blinked at me a moment. Something I couldn’t read moved across his face. Then he cleared his throat and pushed off the counter. “Well, Italy might be a stretch,” he said, reaching for the potatoes. “I don’t fly, remember?”

Grace started to fuss and I unclipped her from the swing and picked her up. “You’re really serious about that no-flying thing, huh?” I said, bouncing her.

He slid the contents of his frying pan into a waiting dish. “I get panic attacks.”

I frowned. “Well that sucks. Have you tried Xanax?”

He put the pan in the sink and ran water over it with a sizzle. “I’ve tried everything.”

“Therapy?”

He shook his head. “I get enough psychoanalysis from my mom. She thinks it’s because I’m not in control of the situation. I’d probably be fine if I was the one flying the plane.” He took the towel from his shoulder and dried his hands. “She says I have abandonment issues.” He looked amused. “My dad left us when I was young. She says this grew into a deep-seated need to always be in control.”

“Huh. Is your mom a psychologist?”

He chuckled. “No. Though she’s probably been to enough of them to know.”

“So how do your abandonment issues mess with your relationships?” I asked, putting Grace’s pacifier in her mouth.

He opened the oven and peeked in. “What do you mean?”

“Your childhood damage always messes with your relationships. I think it’s a rule.”

I knew this rule because I was completely bound by it. And in my case, it meant I didn’t have relationships.

I was taught early on that love was always needy. It was a responsibility. An obligation. Love bleeds you dry and takes advantage of you. Asks you for money, crashes your car, drops a baby on your doorstep.

It leaves you.

It dies.

I didn’t want to do that to anyone else. I didn’t want anyone to fall in love with me only for them to watch me waste away and then leave them behind. And anyway, I wasn’t worth all that. Not at this point. The payout was too small. I probably had too little time left.

He lowered the temperature on the oven. “Other than making it hard to get to Seattle to see her, I don’t think my issues had any bearing on Rachel.”

“So did you have any serious relationships before her?” I asked.

Adrian folded his kitchen towel into a perfect square and set it on the counter. “A few. I dated someone in college for a couple of years. Dated people on and off. My job makes it hard to make time. She was the first girlfriend I had in…three years?”

I pulled my face back. “Wow. She must have been pretty special.”

He blew a breath out, but he didn’t answer.

I felt my face go soft. “Are you okay? Finding out someone’s married is a really shitty way to break up.”

He nodded. “I’m okay. Or I will be. Eventually. Having someone to hang out with helps.”

I smiled and kissed the top of Grace’s head. “We should toast.” I picked up my wineglass and raised it. “To just friends.”

He gave me a crooked smile. “To just friends.”

We clinked our glasses.





CHAPTER 9





MAN TRAPPED IN GRUESOME AVALANCHE! YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT BURIED HIM!




ADRIAN

I woke up thinking about Vanessa.

It was incredible to me that I didn’t know her before this. That I didn’t realize someone so vibrant lived right next door. It seemed like the kind of thing that would have been self-evident. A warmth that I felt through the wall.

Last night she’d brought over a 2013 Far Niente cabernet. It was exquisite. We ate dinner and started watching The Office, but we ended up talking so much we paused it and never got back to it.

I’d done some digging around on her while she was dealing with her dad and his “stolen vehicle.” I searched “Vanessa Price” and clicked on the video with the most views. It was with some other YouTuber named Willow Shea and the video was the two of them eating ghost peppers. It was hilarious.

Then I’d checked her Wikipedia. It was brief. She was a staunch advocate for disability rights and had a charity committed to raising funds for the cure of ALS—and she was famous, a fact I’d gleaned from the amount of fan mail she had and the five million views on the ghost pepper video I’d watched.

I was hoping I’d see what her old job used to be, but the Wikipedia page was sparse.

She’d said she didn’t date because the women in her family die young.

Her mom had died in a car accident and her sister died of ALS. I’d done a quick Google search of it. It was a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Causes muscle atrophy and eventually leads to death. Raising money for ALS had spawned that Ice Bucket Challenge from a few years ago. Stephen Hawking had had a slowly advancing version of it.