Page 142 of Never Kiss and Tell

“Have you talked to her?”

Save for the letter and her book that I spent all night reading? No.

I shake my head.

“You should see if she’s settling okay, back home.”

“No,” I murmur. “I’m not doing that.”

Dad sighs. Clearly, he’s been talking to Andi.

“I thought you two really had something special.”

“We did,” I agree.

“I thought you loved her.”

“I do.”

Dad stares at me. waiting for me to reconsider.

“And you don’t think she loves you?”

“She does.”

“So, what are you doing sitting here?”

I stare at him, unsure what to say.

“Go get her.”

“I’m not pulling her from her life there.”

“She’s said it herself. She’s not happy there. The only thingstopping you is you.”

“No, because you know what will happen?” I ask, standing from the chair. All the emotions I’ve been working hard to squash down the last couple weeks come rising to the surface. Red hot rage pierces through me, burning through my veins until there’s nothing else I can feel. “She’ll think I’m fucking crazy for showing up there. She’ll send me on my way because I don’t have what she needs.”

“Bullshit. She’s in love with you and you know it.” Dad stands, squaring his shoulders at me.

“She’s too fucking good for me,” I snap, my temper flaring.

Dad’s voice rises above mine when I try to speak again, effectively cutting me off. “I didn’t raise you to be a coward!” I fall silent, shocked like he’s fucking decked me. “You’ve been walking around here with your dick tucked between your legs for a week, pissed off and moody. You love her? Then stop whining about it and do something about it.”

You know that feeling when the world rears it’s ugly fucking head and shows you what a bitch you are? Yeah, this is one of those moments.

“If she sends you away, then you go with your head on straight and give her that, but don’t let her go and not try.”

I wipe a hand over my face and pinch the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger.

“You’re a good man, Charlie. A great man. You deserve a great woman. I think you found that.”

I can’t believe I’m fucking thinking this over.

My phone vibrates on the coffee table and a number I don’t recognize lights up the screen.

“You going to get that?” Dad asks, cocking a brow at me.

I shake my head, just as it cuts off. I open my mouth to reiterate whatever fucking point I was trying to make earlier.

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