Page 58 of Choosing Forever
“Then okay. We’ll have dinner.”
And there’s my opening.
It’s the chance I’ve been needing for a year now, and there’s no fucking chance I’m going to screw it up.
19
DELANEY
Dinner?Really, Delaney?
Why on earth did I decide that agreeing was the right move? Oh, right, because the moment I heard Sasha speak to him with that same snotty, know-it-all tone that I did all throughout middle and high school, I wanted nothing more than to rip her away from him again.
I haven’t just been avoiding Darren. I’ve been avoiding Sasha too. At least with Darren, I knew he would have respected the distance I had put between us. Whether out of fear of what would transpire between us or just not wanting to talk and risk a blowout.
But knowing Sasha as well as I do, I had no doubt she’d say or do something that would hurt me deeper to prove a point. She’s always been that way. Marrying Darren and having Abbie only made her worse. The divorce didn’t do a thing to change that.
“Tell me that I have something to do at home, Daisy,” I plead into the phone.
My closest friend hums. “You’re too organized for that. If I had to guess, I’d say . . . you’ve already planned for the entire school year.”
“I should have said no to this.”
“Maybe. But you didn’t.”
“That’s not helping, you know? Why can’t you just tell me to get back into my PJs and go to bed? Where’s the support?”
I stare at my front door, waiting for the storm in my head to manifest into reality and tear it off the hinges. All I have to do is take three steps forward and open it myself, but I can’t seem to move.
“Because that’s not actually what you want me to say, Della. It’s okay if you want to go out with him.”
“I don’t.”
“Are you sure? Not even just to talk? There have to be things you want to get off your chest. It’s been a long, long time since you’ve had that chance.”
“We talked at Into The Shade,” I mutter.
“Okay, and how was that?”
I groan and wiggle my toes in my wedges to bring some blood back into them. “Are you trying to convince me to go or stay?”
Her laugh is a twinkle in my ear. “That bad, huh?”
“It went exactly the way you’d expect with two people who’ve avoided speaking for eight years. I can’t think about it without cringing.”
“Okay, well, you could always just avoid those tough conversations tonight. What was it that he said you were going to do? Brainstorm fundraising ideas?” She sounds as disbelieving as I’ve felt about it.
“Supposedly.”
“And do you have any ideas?”
“It doesn’t matter if I do. I doubt whatever we come up with tonight will ever see the light of day. It was all a ruse; I just don’t know for what.”
“Come on, Della. Yes, you do. He wanted to take you to dinner.”
“I don’t trust it. Why would he want to do that all of a sudden? There’s been almost a decade for him to try.”
“You tell me. Clearly, something’s changed. The divorce, maybe?”
