Page 52 of Love You
“Is there any chance you might reconcile?” Darcy asked. The question had been a recurring theme of her breakup with Lewis. At the time, she’d resented it but now she understood why people asked.
“I don’t think so, honey.”
She sucked in a breath, lost for what to say next. This felt worse than leaving Lewis. It felt like a part of her world was crumbling. Granted it wasn’t a world with lots of happy childhood memories, but it was her world nonetheless.
“What did Nana say?”
He shook his head and scrubbed his hand through his hair. “She’s disappointed, I guess.”
Nana had never been a fan of Geneva’s, though she’d never come out and said it. But in those dark teenage years when Darcy had struggled with everything from her weight to incredible shyness, Nana had been her protector against Geneva’s constant put-downs. She’d also blamed Max for not stepping in to stop Geneva’s relentless bullying.
But what was done was done. There was no use looking backward. All Darcy felt now was a jumble of emotions and a melancholy that hollowed her from the inside out.
Max stood up. “I’d like to get back before nightfall.”
Darcy joined him. “You sure you don’t want to stay?”
He pulled her in for a hug, another novelty. “I have an early morning. But let’s get together soon.”
“Of course,” she said but it sounded empty even to her own ears. When had they ever gotten together besides holidays? Never. “I’ll walk you out.”
Nana pulled up the driveway just as Max was leaving and he rolled down his window to say good-bye. Hilde got out of her car and together they watched him disappear down the driveway.
“How are you doing, dear girl?” Nana wrapped her in a hug and Darcy began to cry.
“I don’t know why I’m getting so emotional,” she said, swiping at the tears running down her face. “It’s not like they were happy together. This might be good for them.”
“I think it will be,” Nana said, and held Darcy’s cheeks in her hands. “You too. Maybe they’ll get to know you better.”
Darcy thought that ship had sailed but she didn’t want to dash Nana’s hopes. It was bad enough that her only son and granddaughter had failed at love.
* * *
After dinner and a long talk with Nana, Darcy found herself sitting in front of Win’s apartment. She told herself she was just checking on his well-being but the truth was hers could use a little TLC. And despite the fact that he was prettier than her, he made her laugh. At least this time when she breached his door, she’d be fully clothed. With pie. She had the rest of Nana’s berry pie.
A TV was on inside his studio; she could see the reflection of a baseball game in the window. Relieved that she wouldn’t be interrupting something important, Darcy took the path to his unit. The smell of fresh-cut grass and a hint of jasmine filled the still night air. And the stray cat that Win wouldn’t admit he’d adopted lay on the sill of an open window, swishing its tail.
Darcy called through the screen door, “Anyone home?”
“Uh, yeah, hang on a sec.”
He came to the door bare-chested and unhooked the latch. “Hey.”
“Hey,” she said back.
His eye had turned several shades of black and blue and green and was the size of a Ping-Pong ball. It gave her something to stare at besides his chest, which was something of a work of art in and of itself. Broad and muscled and lightly furred with a happy trail that disappeared behind the waistband of a pair of low-slung jeans.
He hung his hands from the top of the doorframe and stretched and she nearly lost her mind.
“Here.” She handed him the dish. “The rest of the berry pie. I had some fudge too but I ate it on the way over.”
He took the pie to the kitchenette. She couldn’t help herself and started picking up various articles of clothing that had been flung here and there.
“You come over to clean or to eat pie?” He got down two plates and some forks from a drawer. “How big a piece you want?”
“I’m good,” she said, and folded a pair of shorts and put them on top of a pile by his bed. “I ate before I came over.”
His hair was mussed and he ate standing up and even with his Cyclops face he was breathtaking. Just looking at him made her sigh.
