Page 124 of Indiscretion

A few minutes later, Miriam came back with three envelopes in her hand. She held them out to me. “I believe these are yours.”

“Are these…”

She nodded and smiled. “My daughter gave them to me a few days before she passed and asked me to hold them for safekeeping. She told me she’d had you write to her every year on her birthday, something about getting your feelings out. Bailey never opened them and neither did I. I don’t know what’s inside, but maybe something in the letters will help?”

I took the envelopes. “Thank you.”

“Take care of yourself, Dawson.” She pulled me in for a hug. “You deserve to be happy. My Bailey would want that.”

Chapter 37

NAOMI

“I can’t believe you still haven’t heard from Dawson.” Lily shook her head. “I was worried about you getting involved with him at the beginning because of his track record with women. But when I saw the way he looked at you, I stopped worrying. He’s clearly crazy about you.”

I dipped a French fry into ketchup and sighed. “He has a funny way of showing it.”

It was Friday afternoon, almost two weeks since something had changed with Dawson. It was like he was upset with me, but I had no idea why, and he didn’t allow himself to be around me long enough to figure it out. At first, even though we kept missing each other at the office, we kept texting. But now even his texts had grown distant. They were never more than a few words, and he never initiated them except to ask once a day how Frannie was. And at this point, it was clear we weren’tmissingeach other anymore. Dawson was avoiding me like the plague.

“This morning, I got to the office at six thirty because he’s been coming and going either before I arrived or after I had to leave for the day to pick up the kids. Frannie’s sister-in-law, Cynthia, stayed over last night, so I didn’t have to do the morning routine. But Dawson was already gone by the time I got there. I asked the overnight security guard if he’d seen him leave—pretending I’d overslept and missed the boss and he was going to be mad—and the guard said he came in at midnight and left at around four AM. The man has turned nocturnal to avoid me.”

“I just don’t get it. There has to be a reason. He’s probably freaking out over how he feels about you because he has no experience with relationships.”

“Maybe.” I shrugged. “But I get the feeling there’s more to it than that.”

“Ben thinks it has something to do with Bailey.”

“I wondered that, too. Because she died of cancer. Maybe Frannie’s situation stirred up old emotions that are difficult for him to manage. But he didn’t disappear when the shit hit the fan and Frannie had that awful week that scared us. He went MIAaftershe started to recover and got out of the ICU.”

“Whatever the reason, he needs to pull his head out of his ass and speak to you about it.”

I sighed. “Could we talk about something else? I need an afternoon off from thinking about Dawson. I feel like that’s all I do lately, and it’s honestly exhausting.”

Lily reached across the table and patted my hand. “Of course. I’m sorry.”

I forced a smile. “Tell me something good. How’s the second floor coming along? Have you started renovating yet?”

Her lips curved to a cheeky smile. “We started one particular room.”

I dipped another fry. “Which one? Your bedroom?”

“No, the nursery.”

My eyes widened. “You’re…”

Lily nodded with the biggest smile on her face. “I just found out a few days ago. You’re the first person I’ve told besides my mom and obviously Ben.”

“Oh my God, Lily!” I got up and walked around the table, swamping my best friend in a hug. “Congratulations! I’m so happy for you guys.”

“Thanks. I still can’t believe it. The funny thing is, I had my IUD put in a few weeks before I met Ben. I went to the gyno for a checkup two months before the wedding, and she said it was almost time to change it. I told Ben, and his response was a sexy smile and ‘I can’t wait to put a baby in you.’ I thought it was insanely hot and attacked him.”

I laughed. “You two are sickeningly perfect together.”

“We’d planned on trying in a year or two, but since the IUD had to come out, we decided to roll the dice and let things happen when they were meant to. I was shocked we got pregnant so fast.”

“I’m so excited for you.”

Lily’s news really lifted my spirits, and I left the diner feeling upbeat for the first time in weeks. Though as the day progressed, I couldn’t help but think about where I was in my own life. A year ago, I’d had my dream job and been engaged. Brad and I had talked about having a family in the future. Back then, if someone would’ve asked me where I saw myself in a few years, I would have described Lily’s life—happily married and pregnant. It was a reminder that life changes, and we have to keep moving forward. I just really wished I was doing that with Dawson.

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