The Exception(59)

“Were you a woman in a past life or something?” Oliver asked him.

“Maybe.” He frowned as he placed his hand on his chin.

It was getting late and I had to drive back to the city.

“Thanks for the food and advice, guys, but I’m going to head back now.”

As I was driving back to the city, I couldn’t stop thinking about Liam’s advice. It actually sounded like a good plan. Being friends with Jillian was better than being nothing with her at all. Tomorrow, I’d text her and put my plan into motion.

****

After I returned from a meeting, I pulled my phone from my pocket and took in a deep breath as I typed Jillian a text message. Fuck it. This needed to be done over the phone, so I called her.

“Hello,” she answered.

“Hi, it’s Drew.”

“Hi, Drew.” Her voice was unsure.

“I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry about the other night. I didn’t mean to walk out like I did and I want you to know that I fully understand.”

“It’s okay. I understand why you left.”

“Listen, Jillian. We’re friends and I don’t want that to end.”

“I don’t either, Drew.”

“Good. I also want you to know that I’ll always be here for you if you need someone to talk to, whether it be about your parents, Kristen, or anything about yourself. I’m just a phone call away.”

“Thank you. I appreciate it. I really do and it means a lot to me to hear you say that.”

“You’re welcome. I have to hang up now. I have a meeting to get to.”

“Okay. We’ll talk soon. Bye, Drew.”

“Bye, Jillian.”

I let out a deep breath as I hit the end button on my phone.





Chapter Thirty-Seven


Jillian



I set my phone down and looked at Kristen, who was sitting across from me.

“Well? What did he want?” she asked.

“He said he wants us to be friends.”

“Good man. Is that what you want?”

“Yes. Of course.”

“Well, then you can’t sleep with him. Because you can’t have a friends-with-benefits type of relationship.”

“I know. He told me to call him if I ever need anything.”

“Is he coming to the wedding?” She bit down on her bottom lip. “Because I just assumed he was.”

“I don’t know. Did you invite him?”

“I thought you already did.” She frowned.

“We never really talked about it.”

Rolling her eyes, she sighed. “Give me his number. I’ll ask him. After all, he is the one who got us that wonderful room. He should be there.”

“I agree,” I spoke and then rattled off his number to her.

Drew calling me and wanting to still be friends meant a lot to me. Maybe someday, once I discovered who I was, we could be more. But for now, friends were what we had to remain, even though I missed him like crazy. I couldn’t use him to fulfill my own needs. It wasn’t fair to him. Truly loving someone before you love yourself wasn’t an option. No exceptions.

“He said he’d love to come.” Kristen grinned.

A small smile crossed my lips. “Good. I’m happy he can make it.”

****

Kristen and my father met later that night. Noah wasn’t thrilled, but he put on a happy face for Kristen because this was what she wanted. I stood there and watched my father cry as he hugged her and the two of them sat down on the couch and talked for a few hours. It made me wonder that if Kristen wasn’t dying, would she have wanted to meet him.

“I have to ask you a question and I don’t want you to get mad at me,” I spoke.

“What?”

“If you weren’t dying, would you have wanted to meet Dad?”

“Yes. I still would have wanted to meet him.”

“Why?” I asked in confusion.

“Because I’m strong enough to know that people make mistakes. There’s not one person on the face of this Earth that hasn’t made a mistake or two in their life. It’s not healthy to hold grudges and my mother always taught me that. Believe it or not, she forgave him a long time ago.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I wish you could have met her. She was the most beautiful person you’d ever meet. She was so full of wisdom and knowledge.”

“No wonder Dad stayed with her for over a year.”

“She told me that she couldn’t hate him because he gave her the most precious gift anyone could ever give someone: me.”

Tears started to fill my eyes. “Didn’t she ever meet anyone else?”

“She dated a lot. But she said no one could ever fill the shoes that were Dad’s.”

I reached over and placed my hand on hers as we both sat there and let the tears fall freely down our cheeks.

****

Drew

Being invited to Kristen and Noah’s wedding thrilled me because then I would get to see Jillian again. Remembering what Liam had said, I called Lia into my office.

“Yes, Drew.” She smiled as she walked in.

“Have a seat. There’s something I would like to ask you.”