A Guide to Being Just Friends(98)
Then, he put everything out there, telling them how he felt and what he was willing to do to prove it.
43
She was not wallowing. She refused. Which was why Hailey said yes when Piper invited her for dinner. Nick and the kids had gone to see a movie. She’d managed to avoid more than talking on the phone with her cousin for the last ten days. She worried that even though she was holding it together, functioning as she should, one look at Piper would be like tugging the bottom block out of the Jenga game.
Taking a deep breath, she shook her arms, hands, and body a little just to reset herself. You’re fine. You’re not a blubbering mess. Life happens. Hearts get broken. You are rocking the salad world. You have friends. You are loved. Maybe not by the man … nope, veering off track there, Hailey. You are fine.
She knocked. Piper opened the door, her smile soothing some of the sadness in Hailey. Pulling her into a hard hug, she rocked back and forth.
“I love you. And I truly believe I’m not the only one.” Piper pulled back, kissed Hailey on the cheek, then skirted around her, nudging her inside.
“What are you doing?” Hailey stood in Piper’s entryway as her cousin descended the couple of steps.
Piper turned, purse slung over her shoulder. “Moving out of the way so you can get what you deserve.” Piper pointed. “Shut the door. Go inside.”
Hailey did as she was told, leaning her head against the cool wood. When she turned, pressing her back to the door, she wondered why Piper thought she deserved time alone. She’d thought, for sure, Piper was going to go all mama bear on her, pamper her, let her cry it out over wine she’d saved for just such occasions.
She pushed off the door. She’d grab the wine, head out to the pool deck, and enjoy the quiet. She left her shoes and purse by the door, padded down the hallway to the kitchen.
Smiling, she walked to the glass of red that was already sitting there. She picked it up, sipped. Deep breath in, out. She was going to be okay. It might not feel like it in those moments between sleep and waking when it all came rushing back. But she would be.
Heading toward the sliding doors, she smiled wider when she saw Piper had turned on the twinkle lights strung around the edges of the patio.
Sliding the door open, she was surprised to hear music playing. As she closed the door behind her, she wrinkled her nose.
“Really, Piper?” The eighties classic “I Want to Know What Love Is,” by Foreigner, played through the outdoor speakers.
There was a small partition that blocked her view of the pool but once she’d rounded it, everything inside of her came to a pause. Set up beside the pool was a table for two with a white linen tablecloth. Candles flickered from the center of the table, adding a subtle glow. The twinkle lights seemed to dance to the tempo of the music.
Wes stood beside the table dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a black T-shirt. Her heart thrashed against her rib cage. She felt her pulse everywhere. The wineglass was heavy in her hand.
He clutched a handful of colorful flowers. She didn’t know the name but they were like petaled rainbows.
Wes walked forward, stopped in front of her. “This moment is the first one I’ve been able to breathe properly since I left your side.”
She stared up at him, sure she was seeing things, hearing things. “What are you doing here?”
He took a deep breath, and she felt it fan across her skin when he exhaled. “Anything I have to in order to show you I was wrong. To show you what you mean to me.” He extended the flowers. “These were so bright and happy. It made me smile just to look at them. They reminded me of you.”
Her breath whooshed out of her lungs as she closed her eyes, then opened them. She took the flowers, hoping he didn’t see her hands shake. “I know I matter to you, Wes. And I miss you. I do. But we can’t go back to being friends. At least not yet. Maybe one day. But not yet.”
He took the flowers and the wine, walked to the table, and set them down before coming back to take her hand. He led her to a chair, held it out. She sat and Wes pulled his chair directly in front of her so their knees were touching.
“This is more than friendship, Hailey. So much more. You were right about me. I was scared. I was a coward.”
She shook her head, doing her best to stuff down her emotions. “You were right, too. I knew who you were, what you wanted and didn’t want out of life. You can’t make someone love you back. Let’s just call it even and hope that in the future we can be in the same room without it hurting.”
He shook his head. “No.”
Hailey’s brows moved up. “Excuse me?”
“I never wanted to be in love. From what I’d heard, what I’d seen with my brothers, it was the equivalent of jumping out of an airplane with a chute you’re only hopeful will work. There are no guarantees. Those three words seemed more like a watered-down farewell than an expression of how the other person alters someone’s life just by being part of it. My father would say it to calm my mother and his subsequent wives and girlfriends, appease them. My mother says it so often at the end of a conversation, I’ve heard her say it to her hairdresser and masseuse. I’m not even sure if she knows she’s saying it or if it’s just habit. So how meaningful can they be?”
Hailey’s lips twitched so she gave into the small smile. “Maybe they’re really good at what they do.” What he said made so many things make sense. The emotion in his voice seeped into the cracks of her heart.