“I know. I know….”
“Let’s go back to Clive again,” Jordan suggested. “Obviously you felt something for him. You’ve talked about him, how he’s an interesting, cultured, sophisticated guy.”
“That’s true. And he’s charismatic. But I can’t forget the Mimi element in all this.”
“The Mimi element?”
“Jordan, have you ever been around an older person you care for who’s really sick? I mean, Mimi is really sick. She’s so weak we had to help her to the bathroom. She couldn’t feed herself.”
“Feel free to kill me if I ever get to that point,” Jordan joked.
“Not funny! Oh, Jordan, I’m terribly worried about Mimi, my stomach’s all in a knot, and I don’t know what to do! I want to do something. It’s a terrible feeling to see someone you care for becoming helpless and weak, and to stand there knowing you can’t change it, you have no power, I don’t know, it fills you with such a furious kind of energy, you have to do something!”
“I get that, Darcy. But, honey, Mimi isn’t your relative. You haven’t even known her that long. Just a few summer weeks. I don’t know, it seems your emotions are set on red alert when they shouldn’t be.”
Darcy sank onto the sofa. “Okay. That makes sense. I’m going to have to mull that over, but I think you’re right. It’s been such an odd summer. Thanks for all the listening, Jordan. I’ve got to go. I’ve got to…I’ll call you tomorrow.”
When she’d clicked off from Jordan, Darcy sat silently, trying to let her thoughts settle, but the sense of urgency remained. She needed to talk to Nash. She tried his number again. Again she was sent to voicemail.
“Nash, I really want to talk to you. I need to talk to you. Call me? Please?”
It was almost eight o’clock. She probably should eat something, but she had no appetite. Muffler did, however, and after he’d mewed piteously, she filled his food bowl and gave him fresh water. And then she stood in the kitchen, just staring.
She had reached that place in her spirits where her emotions were all jumbled up. She had what she thought of as a dark heart. She wanted to sit down and cry, but, no—What she wanted was to change things. Now. She wanted Nash to hear what she had to say!
She threw herself into her car and tore off, with much less noise and drama than Nash had in his truck. She headed toward Nash’s apartment.
His red truck was in the drive. Lights were on in the apartment above the garage. Good, he was home.
She ran up the steps and knocked on his door.
When Nash opened the door, he looked really pissed off. Not a good sign.
Or—maybe it was! Maybe he was jealous, maybe he was angry that she’d kissed another man!
Nash wore clean board shorts and a T-shirt. He was barefoot and his sandy hair was wet.
She was strong. “Nash, I need to talk to you.”
He said, “Okay.” He didn’t move.
“Could I come in? Please?”
He shrugged, turned his back on her, and walked away from the door.
Darcy stepped inside, shut the door, and followed him. He leaned his weight against the kitchen counter. His arms were folded over his chest in a classic defense pose.
She was shaking, but she had to do this. “Nash, I think you’re angry with me because you saw Clive kissing me. I don’t blame you. Lots of stuff has been going on in my neighborhood. It’s been a completely crazy summer. So that doesn’t excuse me for kissing Clive, but it explains it, I hope. I mean, his grandmother Mimi is sick. And Willow—but never mind that. Nash, you’re angry with me, but is that fair? I’m confused. We’ve been seeing each other for about three months. I know that’s not long enough to make a serious, um, commitment, and I know we haven’t said anything important about us, you and me, where we might be headed, but Nash…Nash, it kills me to have you look at me like that. Nash, I came here to tell you—” Fear choked her. She reached out and put her hands on his arm. The warm skin, the electricity—it gave her strength, it gave her determination. “I love you.”
Nash was made of stone. He didn’t respond to her touch. “That looked like more than a friendly kiss.”
“I can explain that. Could we sit down? You’re so cold, and it’s not easy, saying all this to you and you standing there like Mount Rushmore. It’s complicated. This summer has been such a tangle. I know way too many secrets, and I had gone to Mimi’s house to ask her advice, and she’s sick, she’s really sick, and Clive was beside himself, and I helped Mimi get cleaned up. I made her some scrambled eggs.”