Page 82 of Choosing You

His shoulders sagged. “Sloane, I had no idea. I always loved cars, and your brothers just naturally gravitated toward them as well. It wasn’t intentional, sweetheart.”

“I know that now,” she assured him. “But I can’t help but wish that you and I had something that was just ours.” She shrugged. “Which is silly now that I’m moving.”

Turning his hand over, he squeezed hers. “Tell you what. When you get settled in Sweetbriar Ridge, I want you to find something for us to do together. Just me and you. And whenever I’m in town, we’ll do it.”

“Dad…”

“What? I’m serious! You are my baby girl, and I don’t want you resenting me. That breaks my heart knowing you’ve felt this way all this time and never said anything. It’s not too late, though. We can find something and make it our own. Okay?”

She nodded as tears stung her eyes. “Okay.” And before she knew it, they were both on their feet hugging. Her mom joined in, and they stayed like that for several long minutes.

It was the best moment she’d had with her parents in years, and it meant everything that they were supportive of her move.

One more thing accomplished!

Will was beginning to believe there was some sort of black cloud over them.

Sloane hadn’t made the move to Sweetbriar Ridge as scheduled because her car broke down. The irony wasn’t lost on him. It wasn’t practical for him to go there and try to fix it, so he had no option but to trust her choice in mechanics. The transmission had gone on it, and it took a little over a week for her to get it back. Because of the delay, she had to temporarily move in with her parents since her landlord had leased her apartment.

She backed out the following weekend because it was her father’s birthday, and she didn’t feel right making him drive for two days and miss celebrating with the family. He had been tempted to argue that there was family here in Virginia he could celebrate with, but decided to keep that observation to himself. It would have been great if he could have gone to her, celebrated Kevin’s birthday, and then driven the moving truck himself, but two of the mechanics were out with the stomach flu, and Devin begged him to put in the extra hours.

How was he supposed to say no to that?

Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for him to come down with the stomach flu, and that knocked him out for about four days, and he was too afraid to let Sloane come near him and risk getting her sick.

That meant her move was put off for another week.

Which, oddly enough, she wasn’t overly upset about. When he’d asked her about it, she simply said she was getting extra time to say goodbye to friends and do all the things she was going to miss in Florida.

He cursed, wondering why he was the only one upset about all the delays.

“You’re making that face again,” Devin said as he walked into the garage. “What’s wrong now?”

“Nothing.”

“Oh, for crying out loud,” Devin huffed. “If this is about Sloane’s move again…”

“Hey! So I’m pissed! I have a right to be! I just want her here with me, man. I can’t help it.”

“It’s only one more week. You’ll live.”

He flipped him the finger and turned back to the truck he was working on.

“And she’ll be here for the festival, right?” Devin asked.

“That’s the plan, but…”

“Don’t jinx it or look for issues,” Devin quickly interrupted. “I know the last couple of weeks have been rough, but…”

“You have no idea.”

“Actually, I do,” Devin said, clapping a hand on Will’s shoulder. “I’ve had a front row seat to it all.”

“Yeah…well…sorry.”

“Just…relax. It will all work out.” Then he turned and walked away, and Will wished he had his friend’s confidence. It wasn’t easy to think positively at this point. For so long, he had enjoyed being single and dating casually, but now he was ready for the next phase of life, and that phase was with Sloane.

If she’d ever get here!

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