Page 80 of Chasing Forever
I just got Daisy down and I want to keep it that way. But tomorrow, you’re available?
There’s an urgency in her texts I don’t love. Like she’s trying to get something over with, check the box.
Yeah.
I just scored us tickets to Zander Shaw’s show. I know it’s last minute, and we have to go to Lincoln, but you good with it?
How the hell did she score tickets this close to the concert?
Sure.
YAY! I’ll pick you up at three. That work?
There’s so much more I want to say. I want to ask her to come over after Jude and Sadie get home and spend the night with me. But I also don’t want to push her. Maybe she needs a little time to figure out her feelings. She’s finally softened. Lottie probably already feels pressured because of my confession about how I’ve always felt about her. We’ve gone farther physically in the past few weeks. Maybe she needs to take a step back. More pressure won’t help my cause.
Definitely. See you then. I hope Daisy doesn’t wake up.
It’s an opening to keep this text exchange going if she wants it to.
Me too. Okay see you tomorrow.
I don’t respond, just toss my phone on the table and fall onto the bench. The silence that follows feels deafening.
Mack comes over as though he senses something is wrong and puts his head on my leg. I pet him mindlessly as my mind races like a storm chaser going after a tornado. Will it ever just be easy for us?
At least we’re doing another date. That has to be a good sign. Right?
God, I hope so.
Sunday at three, it’s not Lottie’s small SUV that pulls into my driveway, but Romy’s truck.
I give Mack the chance to run down the stairs and greet them all as they file out of the vehicle. They each take turns petting him and saying hello. Lottie lingers behind her sister and cousin, gaze fixed on anything but me. Fear rises to the surface again. Something’s shifted between us, and I can’t figure out why or if I’m too late to fix it.
“Are you ready?” Romy asks excitedly. She’s wearing jean shorts and a Zander Shaw shirt that’s shorter, so it shows off her stomach. She’s paired it with cowboy boots.
Poppy and Lottie are dressed nearly the same, but it’s Lottie’s frayed shorts and those legs I want wrapped around my waist that I can’t stop looking at. She doesn’t come up to me to kiss me though, and it guts me more than I care to think about. I only had her for a matter of weeks and already she’s pulling away.
I head back inside and grab my keys off the hook. “I’m driving.”
“No, I’m driving.” Romy dangles her keys off her finger.
“And what will happen if you somehow swindle your way backstage?” It’s never going to happen, but I’m sure it’s a dream she’s envisioned already.
“Good point. Okay, let’s go. I want to get there early. I’m hoping to find the other groupies and get noticed by Zander.” Romy skips over to my truck.
“It’s probably never going to happen. You know that, right?” Poppy says, pulling back her long blonde hair into a ponytail.
“Let a girl dream,” Romy says, then laughs.
“How did you score these tickets?” I ask Lottie, following her to the passenger side.
“She didn’t tell you?” Poppy asks.
“No.” She didn’t even tell me that it wasn’t going to be just the two of us. That stings the worst.
“I was searching online on the off chance there were some available and found them.”
“You must have paid a lot.” I open the door for her to climb into the passenger seat.
