Page 8 of Burden to Bear

“I’m sorry to bother you at home after work, but I wanted to stop by and officially apologize,” she said softly.

My brows drew together. “For what?”

“What happened on Monday,” she murmured.

“I already told you I didn’t need an apology for what happened that evening,” I reminded her.

“But you’re upset about what happened,” she reasoned.

Narrowing my eyes, I said, “No, I’m not.”

“Are you sure? Because I feel like something changed on Monday,” she started. “I mean, I understand it, too. Todd was rude. He never should have acted the way he did. And he’s not always like that, but I guess he had a bad day. Anyway, I’m not trying to cover for him or justify his behavior. It was wrong. And I’ve wanted to properly apologize ever since, but I haven’t been able to. Maybe I’m crazy, but I get the distinct feeling you’re avoiding me.”

I had been avoiding her, but I didn’t want to admit that to her. Part of the reason for that is because she’d likely ask why I was avoiding her, and I didn’t want to have to share that with her.

The truth was, from the moment I met her, I’d found it difficult not to think about her. Seeing her again on Monday evening, realizing that she was just as pleasant and sweet as she’d been when she came over to introduce herself on Saturday, was nice. And as we stood outside beside our running vehicles and mailboxes, I decided I enjoyed being around her and listening to her talk. So, I thought I’d take advantage of the fact she didn’t want to cook and invite her to have dinner with me.

Then he showed up—her asshole boyfriend.

She was here, apologizing to me for the way he treated me, and I was stuck wondering if he ever apologized to her for the way he treated her. I’d just met Mia, and I already knew she was way too good for that guy. He was such a dick to her, and he was unbelievably selfish. I still couldn’t believe he stood there demanding she make him a meal when she’d already told him she was exhausted.

In the end, it stung.

It stung that I thought I found a woman who was just what I wanted—talkative, sweet, and gorgeous. I really wanted the opportunity to get to know her better.

Unfortunately, she was already tied to someone else. And because I hated what that meant for me, I’d done everything I could to avoid her. I just hadn’t thought she would cotton on to what I was doing.

“What would give you that impression?”

She shrugged. “Maybe I’m just being paranoid, but like I said, I understand why you’d be upset. Todd wasn’t nice, and after how I reacted, I was worried that you believed I wasn’t a nice person. I wanted to clear it up, because it bothered me, but I keep missing you. When I was driving down the road from work on Tuesday, I saw you in your driveway. You looked right at my car approaching, but you didn’t wait around. I tried not to think too much about it, believing you had other things going on that might have had you rushing. But when I tried to flag you down yesterday morning before you pulled away, you merely waved at me and drove off. And finally, today, I thought I’d try again after work, but you weren’t around when I got home. Again, maybe I’m reading too much into it?—”

“You’re not.”

Mia blinked her eyes in surprise and jerked back, her body going rigid. “What?”

I inhaled deeply and sighed, feeling bad about what I’d done. This whole time, all I could think about was my bruised ego and how much of a dick I thought Mia’s boyfriend was to her.

Was I any better? Maybe I wasn’t outright awful to her, but I’d purposely avoided her, and she hadn’t deserved me reacting the way I had.

“You’re not wrong about me avoiding you,” I said. “I’m sorry. Things got a bit awkward on Monday, and I handled it poorly.”

Her eyes roamed over my face, studying me, as she swallowed hard. “We were off to a great start, and I thought you were a friendly neighbor. I am so embarrassed by how Todd was that night, and I don’t want that to have changed your impression of me. I’m not a bitchy person who bought my house as a means to prove I could do it on my own. I merely didn’t think it was smart to buy a home with a man I’m not married to, that’s all.”

Regardless of how uncomfortable this situation might have been for her, Mia marched right over to address it. She didn’t allow it to fester and turn into a situation that resulted in us never speaking to one another. I needed to do better.

“You have nothing to worry about, Mia,” I said gently. “I don’t think anything less of you, simply because he acted the way he did.”

“You’re sure?” she pressed.

I offered a small smile in return, hoping it reassured her, and promised, “I’m positive. And for what it’s worth, I don’t think you deciding to purchase your home on your own is about you being a bitchy person. I think it’s smart that you did what you had to do to protect yourself financially. I probably shouldn’t say anything else beyond that, as it’s really a private issue between the two of you.”

Mia nodded. “Okay. Fair enough. I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me tonight.”

“You’re welcome. And I’m sorry for how I handled the situation.”

She shrugged. “It’s understandable.”

“That doesn’t make it right.”

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