Page 68 of Choosing You

“The here and now is so freaking hard,” she whined. “So much harder than I thought it would be. Now I’m kind of wishing I never pursued the whole thing. It was completely selfish.”

A sigh was the immediate response. “Okay…here’s the thing,” Ash began, her tone mildly cautious. “At first, you weren’t looking for a new relationship. You were just looking to have fun and I was more than happy to goof around with you. I had no idea you were going to go so crazy over one kiss from Will.”

“He’s a fantastic kisser…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah…so you’ve said. For years. Anyway, I wanted you to see that you can be fun and flirty and not have to jump into a relationship. And then…I don’t know…it was just a fun thing that only we did. I enjoyed having something that just the two of us knew about. Maybe it was childish, but…I kind of enjoyed it.”

Sloane sighed again. “At the time? It was. But it was humiliating to have to admit that to Will.”

“Was he mad?”

“A little, I think. From what he’s told me, it became—hebecame—sort of the town joke. I feel horrible about that.”

Ash chuckled. “Don’t feel too bad; he took it like a champ and—from what you’ve said—it seems like he’s over it. So, are you coming to town this weekend?”

“No.”

“Oh…how come? Is Will coming by you?”

“No.”

Now it was Ashlynn’s turn to sigh. “Seriously, Sloane. I’m going to need more than single syllables here. What is going on?”

“Okay, this is why I think I need to break up with him. I’m sort of…kind of…I’m having some doubts.”

“About Will? Why? He’s a great guy. That’s what you’ve been rambling on about for the last fifteen minutes. Did I miss something?”

It took every ounce of strength she had to not go off on her cousin about all the time she lost with Will because she didn’t know what a great guy he was and remind her whose fault that was! So after mentally counting to ten, she explained about the traveling back and forth, Will’s schedule, and his reluctance to come to her and…

“And I hate cars.”

“I’m sorry…um, what?”

Every time she said it out loud, she realized how stupid that sounded. “I hate cars. I hate talking about them. I could not care less about how they run or what kind of engines they have or all the ways you can enhance the horsepower. I mean…who cares?”

“Um…most people?” Ash suggested. “How can you hate cars? You own a car, right?”

“Why are you like this?” Sloane said wearily. “Yes, I have a car, but…it’s just a car. A means of transportation. I don’t need to talk about it all the damn time. And trust me, Will talks about cars all the time. And now he’s a partner in Devin’s shop and they’re going to do auto body work and…”

“I heard! Everyone’s really psyched about it. I think it’s great! Will’s great with cars and I’ve heard he has some serious skills in the auto body department. He’s going to do some work on a classic car that belongs to one of Reid’s friends and…”

“Focus, Ash!”

“Fine. Whatever. So…you’re telling me you’re thinking of…what…breaking things off with Will because you don’t like cars? Wow. Shallow much?”

“Ugh, I know. I know. But…I don’t know. Maybe the timing’s off. Maybe I waited too long. He’s going to be busy with the business, and I’m stuck here with this crappy job and trying to figure out my own shit.” She paused. “It was fun while it lasted, I guess.”

Silence.

And more silence.

And still more silence.

“Uh…Ash? You there?”

“I amsodisappointed in you.”

“Excuse me?”

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