Page 67 of Love Unexpected
Rosie
My flight landed in Charleston a little after four in the afternoon. In the airport in Nashville, I’d debated for a matter of seconds whether or not I should purchase a ticket to Kansas City. I was aching to spend some time with my parents—nothing made me feel better like sitting at their kitchen table eating my mom’s casseroles and drinking my dad’s herbal tea. But I couldn’t be there when Isaac learned the truth about who I was. Assuming he hadn’t already figured it out.
The line about grits might have been too much. It had slipped out without me really even thinking about it. In retrospect, I wondered if I hadn’t subconsciously wanted to warn him somehow. Give him time to prepare. Or maybe I’d wanted him to realize it was me right then and there, wrap me in his arms and pick up the kissing where we’d left off the night before. Had my Uber not shown up at that precise moment, he might have figured it out. His eyes had already been speaking the question, even if his words hadn’t been.
I’d had a long conversation with my mom while waiting for my flight. That Isaac would show up was inevitable. When he did, she was to invite him inside and take him upstairs to my childhood bedroom. The artwork all over the walls, as well as the shrine to Red Renegade over my desk, would tell him he was in the right place. And the graduation photos hanging above my desk—me in a crimson cap and gown standing between my parents—would tell him that Ana was actually me. My hair had been a little longer when I’d graduated, but the photo wasn’t so different that he wouldn’t recognize me.
I told Mom she could answer any of his questions about pre-Charleston Rosie, but she wasn’t allowed to talk about me and how I was feeling now under any conditions. I didn’t have a whole lot of faith in her ability to avoid that last subject. Mom was nothing if not wholly devoted to my happiness. She’d want to sway Isaac. Encourage him.
But I didn’t want him to be encouraged.
Once he learned who I really was, he’d know exactly where I stood. It didn’t matter how amazing our first kiss had been. How much I enjoyed his text messages or how easily we’d gotten along during the first leg of our road trip. Good chemistry and a shared passion for Red Renegade wasn’t enough foundation for a successful relationship. I wasn’t the right woman for him—the right woman to live life in the spotlight. And we both knew it.
The air outside Charleston’s airport was pleasant and breezy, warmer than it had been in Nashville. A whiff of salty air floated past my nose, and I suddenly longed to be on the beach, to feel the breeze lifting the curls from my neck, the waves washing over my feet.
My landlord was already planning to take care of Reggie for a couple more days. Who said I needed to head straight home? I pulled up my Uber app and plugged in the address for Folly Beach Pier. I needed sun. And sand. And ice cream. Stat.
While I waited for my Uber to show up, I called Greta.
She answered on the second ring. “Hey! How’s it going? Are you in Kansas City yet?”
I heaved a sigh. “I’m back in Charleston. I caught a flight in Nashville.”
“What? Why? What happened?”
“It’s a long story. Want to meet me at the pier on Folly? I’m headed there now.”
“Um, yeah,” Greta said. “I’m actually at the warehouse. I came in to finish a few things. I’m mostly done. Jade is here. Do you want me to bring her, too?”
“Sure. I might as well explain everything once. Tell her to come. And to bring Diedre if she wants.”
“They’re all here. The kids, too.”
The thought of hanging out with Jade and Diedre and Greta actually felt like a balm to my weary soul. The only thing that sounded better than the beach was the beach with my friends.
***
Diedre sat beside me on the sand, the baby asleep in her lap, while Jade and Max dug for seashells with Greta. Diedre’s blonde hair was swept up in a loose ponytail, revealing the faint laugh lines surrounding her eyes. Diedre was older than Jade by almost ten years which made her feel a little like the mom of the group. She naturally leaned into the role, and we were all the better for it. No one nurtured like Diedre did.
“What do you think you’re going to do now?” she asked, her toes digging in the sand in front of us.
I’d already given Greta my unofficial two-week notice, though she hadn’t been too enthusiastic about accepting it. She’d just kept telling me to take a week off and think things through but not to make any decisions just yet. I appreciated that Diedre, at least, was talking like she’d taken my decision seriously.
“Beats me,” I said. “I don’t really want to leave Charleston, but I’m not sure I’ll have a choice.”
“There are other jobs,” Diedre said. “Charleston is a big city. There are plenty of companies here that might be looking to hire a web designer.”
I shrugged. “I guess. But would it be weird to stay? To keep hanging out with you guys?” They were all friends with Isaac, too. There would inevitably be overlap, and the thought of that, of seeing Isaac, interacting with him, I wasn’t sure I could handle it.
“It’ll only be weird if you make it weird,” Diedre said. “Besides, you can’t let a man chase you from a city you love. So Isaac was the reason you moved here. He doesn’t have to be the reason you stay.”
It was such simple advice, and yet it resonated in my heart and mind in a profound way. I didn’t have to run away. Even if I didn’t work for Isaac anymore. Even if I was totally mortified and we never even talked after he learned about who I really was.
I pulled my phone out of my bag and clicked through to my message thread with Isaac. After my last text, the one where I told him I thought he was going to be disappointed, he’d never messaged me back. If anything, that fact only reinforced my belief that he’d already figured out who I was and didn’t want to message me. Either that, or Tyler had told him. And why wouldn’t he? He would have had no reason to keep it a secret once I bailed.
I half-wondered if, once he found out, Isaac had just given up and turned around to drive home. Though surely he would have let Alex or Jade know if that was the case.
I was debating the merits of asking Jade or Alex for Tyler’s number—texting him to find out if he’d said anything to Isaac wouldn’t be too out of line, would it?—when a message popped up from my mom.He just pulled into the driveway. I’ll keep you posted!
