Page 56 of All I've Waited For

After an agonizing minute, the door opened. Ashley stood in the doorway dressed in pajama bottoms and a spaghetti strap shirt, her hair pulled back—looking for all the world like she’d enjoyed a relaxing evening in, not racing around town like she’d claimed.

“Derek? H-hey.”

Above him, a fluorescent light flickered. “Can I come in? Or are you busy?” He swallowed hard before anything more forced its way out.

She blew out her cheeks, then released the air as she widened the door. “I’m not busy.”

Not waiting for her to change her mind—she seemed to like to do that—he tromped into her apartment. The whole place smelled like a tropical fruit basket and set his nerves on fire.

Turning, he planted his feet wide and crossed his arms. “If you didn’t want to go out, you could have just said so.”

“You’re all dressed up. Did you …” Her cheeks paled. “Did you actually go to the restaurant? I thought I texted you before you would have left.”

“I had a few stops to make before dinner so I left early.” No way was he telling her about that wasted bouquet of flowers—or the little stop at the jewelry store he’d made. Just to peruse.

Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.

He swept his arm around the apartment. “How long have you been home?”

“I don’t know.” She touched the base of her neck. “Thirty minutes?”

“And you didn’t think to call me on your way home to tell me you were standing me up?”

Edging past him, she moved to her kitchen counter and took a sip from a pink mug. Guess she’d had time to do a lot of things before texting him five minutes ago. “I figured you’d have given up on me by then.”

If only he had.

If only he’d kept his feelings hidden—from himself, from Claire, from Ashley. If only he’d done a better job of keeping his head on straight in the first place. At least with Claire, he’d known what he was getting.

“I’m sorry, Derek. I can only imagine what you thought. What you think.”

“It’s fine. No big deal. People get stood up all the time.” Ignoring her wince, Derek turned to leave.

“Wait. Let me explain.”

He stopped, rotated, and leaned with one foot bracing him against the wall. “Okay.” Not that he really wanted to hear her excuses.

Ashley tried to hide a yawn behind her hand. In that single move, she looked so vulnerable. And now that he looked more closely, Derek could see her eyes were rimmed in red.

Maybe he wasn’t being fair. He should give her a chance to explain. “What happened?” Striding to the cabinet above her kitchen sink, Derek snagged a lime-green mug. Flicking on Ashley’s single-serve Keurig, he loaded it with a pod of dark roast grounds while waiting for the water to heat.

“I messed up Ben and Bella’s invitations. Had to call the print shop, but I couldn’t get ahold of anyone, so I drove there. But it’s in San Luis, and traffic was worse than I thought it’d be.”

The Keurig light came on, indicating the water was ready. Derek pushed the button, and the machine whirred to life before brown liquid began to stream into the mug. “Was anyone there?”

“Yes, and I waited while they printed up a new proof for me and a sample invitation that I could show Bella. When I got back to town, I ran it over to her place—”

Unbelievable. “So you actually were back in town, what? An hour or two ago?”

“Maybe an hour and a half?” Ashley set down her cup. “But Bella and I needed to work out a few more details about the invitations—who was going to pay for the oversight, when she’d get the redone invites, that kind of thing.”

The intoxicating aroma of the coffee assaulted his senses, making him desperate for a swig. Derek yanked the mug out from under the Keurig, and liquid splashed over the edge.

He reached for the wet rag draped over the kitchen faucet and wiped up the spill. “And you just had to do all of this tonight?”

Ashley tapped her fingers along the edge of her mug, lips pursed. “They need to mail their invites this week. I couldn’t put it off.”

“Really?” His laughter had an edge to it. “Twelve hours was going to make that much of a difference?”

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