Page 105 of Still Here Without You

“Sorry, man. I wasn’t paying attention, and when I saw…sorry.” He shrugs and looks back toward the exit. “You could go after her…”

“Nah, it’s okay,” I say and I mean it. I’m sure it was nothing.

Nate nods. “Sorry again, I just came to grab some of Cory’s things. But no one mentioned you were helping.”

“We weren’t. Just wanted to give Summer and Dylan some alone time, so we’re grabbing her stuff.” I shrug.

“I feel for him. I’m not sure I could leave Cory now that I have her back. But he’s going pro! That’s really something.” His voice is light and lacks the excitement you’d expect with his statement. I’m going to assume he’s thinking back to his time away from Cory. I know that’s definitely running through my mind. I mean, my time away from Delilah, not Cory and Nate. At least Dylan and Summer are very much in a relationship, and that’s not changing. I have no doubt they’ll be fine. She’ll fly there, and he’ll miss me so much that he’ll come here. They’ll probably get sick of each other.

“They’ll get through it. They’re pretty solid. How’s the house coming along? Are you and Cory all set up?”

Nate’s eyes light up, and a huge smile appears. We’re talking about his favorite topic now…living with Cory. Actually, his favorite topic is Cory in general.

“Man, it’s perfect. We’ve got all our furniture sorted. Just moving over the last of Cory’s junk.” I raise an eyebrow, and he laughs. “Trust me, it’s junk. Even she’s admitted it. She just hasn’t sorted it yet, so she wants me to move it all over to sort later.”

“You know that’s never going to happen, right?”

“I do,” he says, his chin dropping to his chest.

I burst out laughing before patting him on the back. “At least you have her.”

“Definitely that. I didn’t think I was going to get her back at one point, so I’m very luck…ah, sorry, man.” His lips pull in, and he cringes slightly. I know why he’s doing it, but I’m hoping he’s wrong. I’m hoping I’ll have luck too. When the time is right.

Chapter Forty

Delilah

Myphonestartsringingas soon as I walk in the door at home.Summer. I'm sure she's calling to check where I am and yet I hesitate for some reason. When I finally hit connect it's barely seconds before the call is sent to voicemail.

“Hi, Summer.”

“Hey! I’m sorry about that. Dylan’s still struggling. I didn’t mean for it to send you running.”

Damn, now I feel bad.“That’s not what happened. Joel came home and we went by your place to collect the last few boxes.”

“You’re with Joel?” I can hear the smile in her voice.

“No. I had to go. He should be back to you soon though.” I don’t know why I panicked. I guess I just didn’t want Nate getting the wrong idea about us and asking questions. But I probably shouldn’t have run.

“Oh, okay,” Summer says, the smile now gone from her voice. “A few of us are going to the beach tomorrow. As a farewell for Dylan. We’d love for you to come.”

What? That’s not happening.

“Ah—”

“And before you say no you need to hear this.”

My body tenses and my pulse spikes as I wait to hear what she has to say about Joel. Because of course it’s about Joel. She goes silent for a second and then I hear the phone crackling.

“Del,” Dylan says, suddenly on the line, causing me to jump. He doesn’t wait for me to say anything before starting with his speech. “I know things are in a strange place with Joel right now, but I also know that, more than anything, he just wants you in his life. Even if that’s as a friend. On top of leaving Summer behind, I’m nervous about leaving Joel. He puts on a good front but I know he’s struggling. Uh, sorry. This isn’t coming out right. I’m not saying this to make you feel bad. I’m saying this because right now, he wants to be your friend. So if there’s any part of you that wants that too, please come tomorrow. We’d all love to see you there. But if you don’t want that, please know that Summer and I will still always be there for you. Even if you’re no longer part of Joel’s life.”

I bite back tears and take a deep breath before answering. I’m so happy Joel has these people in his life but I don’t know what to say.

“I—”

“You don’t have to answer me, Delilah. If you want to come we’ll be leaving from here at nine. Otherwise, you’ve got Summer’s number and she’s going to send you mine. Call anytime.”

And that’s it; the tears fall.

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