Page 31 of Love Letter Lost
“I don’t know. I need to work on my—”
“Come on, Mal. We’ve been busy all day. Let’s do something fun.”
A million reasons why this was a bad idea flashed into my mind. The fact that he had a girlfriend whose family was trying to take my home was at the top of my list, followed by the fact that I wasn’t sure my heart could take more time alone with Ridge. It turns out, the distance between hate and love is small and my heart was trying to make the leap the more time I spent with him. Despite my better judgement, I settled on the couch and looked over, noticing that his discouragement still rested on his slumped shoulders. Taking a deep breath, I agreed.
The next few minutes dragged as I attempted to ignore Ridge and focus on the fight scene where we’d paused the movie. Instead, I counted the moments until Ridge would leave and my evening plans could return to normal.
When the movie finished, I sighed in relief.
“What should we watch now?” Ridge stretched his arm along the back of the couch, his hand coming dangerously close to brushing my shoulder.
“You’ve got an early morning. Are you sure you don’t want to call it a night?”
“Are you trying to get rid of me?” Ridge grinned, sending my heart hammering.
My phone chose that moment to ring, saving me from responding. I glanced down, grateful, for once, for a phone call from my mother.
“Hello.” My voice came out breathless, making me cringe.
“Mal-bear, I haven’t heard from you all day. Didn’t you get my texts?” Her voice rang through the phone, loud enough to carry, as evidenced by Ridge’s raised eyebrow. He mouthed, “Mal-bear?” with a smirk.
I stood and paced into the kitchen as I decreased the volume on my phone.
“Sorry, Mother. I’ve been helping with Livvy’s wedding.”
“Which is so nice of you, but it’s not helping you in the man department. Good thing I’m here.”
If only you knew.I gritted my teeth. “You never know, maybe my dream man will be at the wedding.”
Ridge made a choked laughing sound, and I glared at him from my place by the kitchen counter.
Thankfully, Mother didn’t hear the background noise and continued talking. “You can always hope. Though I think you need to be more proactive. I know a few guys who would make great dates for the wedding, and every relationship starts with a first date, though you’ll have to do it without that pantsuit I was going to order. It won’t get here in time. You know your father and I—”
“Weren’t even looking for love, but you kept yourself open to possibility and here you are.” I recited the words, having heard them nearly every day since I’d first started dating.
“Exactly. Maybe you should go back to school, audit a class or something. It worked for your father and me.”
My parents had met on the first day of college. To hear my mother tell the story, they locked eyes across a room and knew it was meant to be. Dad’s version involved sitting next to each other and asking if he could borrow her notes, but either way, the stars aligned, and they found love. The fact that I’d graduated college without even a hint of a husband was devastating to my mother. Though I was considering expanding my education with a few property management classes as soon as I got a handle on my home repairs, I didn’t dare tell her. I didn’t need the “you never know where you’ll meet your dream man” speech, again.
“I’ll consider it. But I’ve really got to go. I still have a lot to do before Saturday.”
It took another couple of minutes to convince Mother to get off the phone. When I finally hung up, I walked over and slumped back onto the couch. She was determined to find me a date for the wedding, even if it killed me. The problem was, even if I got married, I doubted her hovering tendencies would lessen. I had the car accident in high school—and the man currently sitting on my couch—to thank for that.
“You look like you need a distraction. I vote for another movie.” Ridge’s voice broke into my thoughts. I looked over to see him flicking through possibilities on the TV.
“What should we watch?” I gave in, hoping some fictional drama would distract me from the real-life drama that was my mother.
Ridge listed several options, each of which I rejected. Thanks to Chloe’s movie watching habits, most of the recommendations consisted of chick-flicks, none of which sounded appealing at the moment.
“That Thing You Do?” He paused on one of the first movies I’d purchased when I’d subscribed for the streaming service.
“Yes! I will never say no toThat Thing You Do.”
Ridge pressed play and settled back onto the couch. “I haven’t watched it in forever.”
“It’s so good.”
“Who was it that had an obsession with that song about holding my hand and heart? Was that you?” Ridge settled next to me as we got sucked into the world of Guy Patterson.
