Waiting for You(36)
His best friend. “Oh, Jake. How did he die?”
“Helicopter crash.”
His voice was clipped, and she knew he wasn’t telling her everything. He’d told her the bare facts but not what was behind them. “I’m so sorry. But why didn’t you just tell me this in the first place?”
He looked away, frowning. “You don’t need to hear all the sad stories.”
“You mean stories about soldiers who died for their country? I’d be honored to hear them. People should hear about the sacrifices our military and their families are making.”
His jaw hardened. “I appreciate the sentiment. But sometimes the wrong people make the sacrifice.”
His words hung in the air for a moment. Jake looked tense, almost angry, and she knew she couldn’t push him any more tonight.
“Thank you for telling me,” she said instead. “I hope you can help your friend’s son. I think it’ll mean a lot to him that you’re going down there.”
He seemed to relax a little. “I doubt it. But I guess I’ll find out.” He hesitated. “Look, Erin—I’d like to take you to dinner before I leave town. I kind of owe you after tonight.”
“I don’t want to have dinner with you because you think you owe me.”
He smiled a little. “How about because we’re friends?”
She smiled back, reluctantly. “That, I can do,” she said.
“Good. And…” He paused. “Thanks for stopping by tonight. I mean it.”
His expression was serious, and it would have been so easy to get caught in his blue eyes that she focused on a tiny nick along his jaw line instead. “You cut yourself shaving,” she said, reaching up before she could stop herself and brushing the tip of her index finger over the scratch.
He went still, and when she looked up again their eyes locked.
She backed away and almost tripped over the couch.
“Well…good night.”
She smiled at him briefly and then fled.
She pulled out of his driveway without looking back, and she was halfway home before her grip on the steering wheel relaxed.
Maybe it was a good thing Jake was leaving the state. Whatever feelings he might have for her, he’d never let himself act on them. And you could only want something you couldn’t have for so long before you did something stupid.
Like fall in love with a man who couldn’t love you back.
Chapter Eight
Mark accepted his decision with good grace, even though it meant hiring a temporary mechanic. “Maybe the trip will do you good,” he said. “Help you clear your head a little.”
His family was harder to convince, but eventually they agreed that taking a few months to see the country might not be a bad thing.
Mark was on board, his family was on board—and taking a long motorcycle trip had always been a dream of his.
So why was he having second thoughts?
Not because of Angie and Paul. He wasn’t looking forward to the visit but he was committed to it, and it wasn’t the prospect of talking about Dan that had him pacing his living room two nights before he was supposed to leave.
It was Erin.
He couldn’t get her out of his head. And after an hour of prowling around his apartment, he finally admitted the truth.
He was going to miss her.
If anyone else had come by the other night, he would have been pissed. He hated when people tried to take care of him.
But he hadn’t been pissed at Erin. Not even when she pushed him to talk about Dan.
He felt comfortable around her. Or at least he did until the tipping point he reached every time they were together—the point when he couldn’t tamp down his desire anymore, and he lost his ability to think about anything else.
He wouldn’t act on it. When Erin finally gave herself to a man, she deserved at least the possibility of happily ever after.
But he wasn’t sure he could stand to be around when that happened.
So it was good that he was clearing out for a while. Better for him and for Erin.
Even if he was going to miss her like crazy.
He dropped onto his couch and pulled out his cell phone.
“Hey,” he said when Erin answered. “I know we’re going to dinner tomorrow, but what are you doing before that? Do you want to spend the day with me?”
“What about your family? Won’t they want to see you before you leave?”
“No, we did the whole goodbye thing today. So what do you say?”
“Well…I guess so. What do you want to do?”
He hadn’t even thought that far. All he knew was that he wanted to spend as much time as possible with Erin before he left. “What about a picnic by the lake? The weather’s supposed to be good.”