Page 41 of Attached At Heart
Natalie nodded, and even though she didn’t say much, I could see the mixture of distress and relief on her face. Noah crossed the kitchen and pulled her into a hug, which she detached from her wineglass to return until Noah’s phone buzzed with a response. Pulling away, he looked at the message and then said, “Oh, duh.”
Natalie cleared her throat and went to retrieve her wine again. “What?”
“Julian said to reach out to Cameron, which I should have thought of.”
“Do I know him?” Natalie asked, rubbing her forehead like she had a headache coming on. Or maybe she already had one.
Noah pocketed his phone and pursed his lips as he thought. “I don’t think you’ve met Cam. He went to law school with Jules, and now they work at the same firm, but we originally met because his sister, Collins, went to undergrad with us.”
Natalie rubbed her forehead again, and I couldn’t blame her. Keeping up with Noah’s friend list that mostly stemmed from his college experience was exhausting sometimes.
“Got it,” she muttered. “Well, if you could send me his contact info, that would be amazing.”
“Will do,” Noah said as he pulled out his phone again.
“We’ll get this sorted, Nat.” I wiped my hands on a nearby towel, abandoning the dishes for a second to wrap my arm around my sister’s shoulders and give her a squeeze. “It’ll be okay.”
“It will,” she agreed with a nod I could tell was fake. “But don’t worry about it. We’re here to talk aboutyoutonight.” Shegave me a little elbow nudge, her lips stretching into a smile as she glanced over at me. “You finally got the girl. I’m happy for you, Blake.”
I grinned back at her, but I knew it was lacking. I didn’treallyget the girl. And the realization of that was so much heavier when my family kept giving me that look and congratulating me on something that wasn’t real.
Natalie immediately clocked me. “What’s wrong?”
I shook my head, prepared to feed her some lie or another, but then changed my mind and said something that had a semblance of truth.
“I’m worried I made a mistake.”
When Noah’s head snapped up and Natalie’s brows rose straight into her hairline, I quickly amended, “Not because I don’t want this. It’s the opposite. I want this—her—somuch, and I don’t want to mess it up. I hope I didn’t mess it up.”
Natalie’s expression softened. “I don’t think you messed it up. It’s clear how deep your connection with Delaney goes, even though you got married so quickly. You think we didn’t notice that you were having whole conversations with your eyes?” A gentle laugh fell from her lips before she pursed them, and I knew there was more she wanted to say that she wasn’t.
“But what?”
“Just…” Nat shrugged. “Well, I just think there’s something to be said for the dating phase. And even though you’re already married doesn’t mean you should skip it.”
“In other words, you better take that girl on a date,” Noah said, jerking his head toward the living room. “A lot of them.”
“Thank you for explaining that for me, Noah.” I rolled my eyes before glancing through the doorway. I could see a sliver of Delaney from this angle, her shiny blonde hair and flowery dress, and felt my lips cracking into a smile I couldn’t control.
Fuck me.
I inched closer to the doorway and realized that Delaney was holding Delilah in her arms, looking down at her sleeping form.
This time, it wasn’t my lips that cracked; it was my chest. It cracked wide open.
“My career keeps me so busy that I could never imagine my life with kids,” I heard Delaney say. Her voice was a soft hush, a rare little confession directed at Gemma, who sat on the sofa beside her. “But I also…” Her voice dropped, but Gemma gave an encouraging look, and Delaney shrugged with a smile. “I never really imagined I’d be married, either.”
Those words had haunted me for over a decade. Those were the words that kept me in check all these years. Delaney never wanted a husband. We’d only made it here by happenstance. But regardless, it was nice to see Delaney have an authentic moment with Gemma. Maybe they’d become friends. That would be good for Lane. For both of them.
“Sometimes things don’t go as planned,” Gemma said with a warm look at her daughter. “And sometimes that really is for the best.”
I hoped to hell that Gemma was right about that. Just because it had worked out for her and Noah didn’t mean it would work out for us.
“Go ahead.” Natalie’s voice startled me from behind, and I whirled to face her. “Don’t worry about the dishes. Go get your girl and get out of here.”
I grinned crookedly. “Kickin’ me out already, Nat?”
“I’m kicking you outwith love,” she laughed, and I knew it was the truth.
