Page 15 of Blossoms of the Heart
“All my life. I’ve known her that long. Just haven’t seen her in the last eleven years and we never kept in touch.”
“Oh, wow. How comes you never kept in touch?”
Questions, questions. She was trying to assess my interest in Phoebe.
“Life got in the way.” It was the truth. I was sure that either of us could have stayed in touch if we wanted.
I could have, even though her mother told me to stay away from her precious daughter. The ball was probably in my court, but I did what I felt was best at the time.
“Life.” She gave me a small smile.
“Life. It’ll be good to get reacquainted in this project. It will be interesting to see how well our skills combine.”
I wished it was just our skills I was thinking of combining. Everything was beginning to make me think of sex.
“Definitely. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens too. I wish that I was covering that instead.” There was a sadness in her eyes that got me. She’d left her job at National Geographic and taken on freelance work with Traveler Magazine.
She never said why she left her job, only that she left. Maybe because that was what took her away from me.
“Why don’t you just write an article about it? You have me to give you all the juice.”
“Yeah, I guess I could.” She nodded and took another sip of her drink. “It feels different now. Different to when I was here last. Back then I was aiming for something and I was looking for the next hot story that would land me the golden job.”
“I get that, but when you love something you do it for you first. Everyone else comes second.”
I imagined Phoebe to be like that. Way back when I used to know her, nothing would stop her from exploring and doing what she wanted to do.
Back then her mother used to be the biggest obstacle. That woman was a pain in the ass. I couldn’t stand her back then and I doubted she was any different now.
“It’s… like I just lost my zing and zest. I’m just doing what I’m doing.” She shrugged.
I wondered if it was that why she decided to ask me for a second chance. Did it just simply fit in with what she wanted for the moment? Like being bored and deciding to do whatever came up to pass the time.
I took a sip of my coffee and looked at her.
We hadn’t really talked properly. She’d just turned up out of the blue at my house and landed me with the news that she was back and hoped we could have a second chance.
It threw me. Really threw me because I didn’t expect to see her this side of the world again, or in my life. It was hard to get over her. Hard to accept that the plans I hoped for us weren’t in her vision too.
When we got together I didn’t think she would have left me for the first opportunity to climb the ladder of success.
But… I got over the blow, and I got over her.
“So what are you doing with yourself exactly?”
“Writing with the travel mag, and hoping to get my guy back.”
I sighed. I didn’t have an answer for her. I had time to think and hadn’t come up with anything.
Also, if I was serious about her then I couldn’t be thinking about Phoebe the way I was.
“I’ve been thinking, Candace, and I still don’t have an answer yet.”
She tried to hide the deflated look in her eyes. “Okay. Is there a chance you will? I mean, will you give us a chance?”
She was making this hard. I had to remind myself that she put us here.
Before she left, I planned to ask her to move in with me. I could see us having a future together. Getting married, having kids.
