Page 8 of Meant To Be

Dylan nodded. “Seriously. No wonder this place is so popular. The food alone is worth the drive.”

Dinner ended up being what I could only describe as a special form of torture. Even though I was doing my best to mentally bubble myself from paying too much attention to Dylan, it was impossible. I couldn’t help but notice the way his lips kicked up at one corner before he laughed, the way his hair was a little rumpled, the way he leaned back in the booth with one forearm resting on the edge of the table, and the way his hands were strong. My gaze dwelled on his forearms. It was ridiculous. They were muscled with a dusting of dark hair. I kept noticing the motion of his throat when he swallowed. All in all, his mere existence in my vicinity with the knowledge I was about to spend an entire night in the same room with him had me twisted up inside.

I tried to remind myself that I’d just been dumped today. Honestly, I kept forgetting about that. I couldn’t decide whether that was because Dylan had appeared unexpectedly in my little universe, or because it was a message from the universe that being the dump-ee was clearly what needed to happen. I should’ve been broken up over it. For God’s sake, Kent dumped me at the airport.

In an effort to remind me of this and to scrounge up some frustration, I checked my social media channels when I went to the restroom. A suspicion that had been lingering for me, that Kent had been hung up on his ex, appeared to possibly be true. He had posted a cryptic message about visiting old friends and tagged her. Lo and behold, they were spending the weekend together. Apparently, he’d used the airline points I’d gifted him to take another flight to the coast. Great, just freaking great. I did a body check, thinking I should be heartbroken over this.

Note to self: when you wonder if you’re the rebound, you probably are.

I sighed as I washed my hands in the sink. My mind immediately spun to Dylan. Maybe he was dating someone. I resolved to ask him just that.

Moments later, I was back at the booth, and he was still disconcertingly handsome and sexy. He eyed me, arching a brow, appearing to sense I wanted to ask him something.

“What’s up? You look like you’re pondering deep thoughts.”

“You know my relationship status as a very recent dump-ee, but what’s yours? Are you seeing anyone? Madly in love and engaged?”

Dylan blinked before he shook his head slowly.

“What does that mean?” I prompted.

“No, to all that,” he said with a low chuckle.

I promptly decided he needed not to laugh. He had this gruff laughter that sent a shiver over my skin.

“Aren’t you due?”

“Due for what?” He looked genuinely puzzled with his brow furrowing as he studied me.

“To get serious. You’re a few years older than me. Wade is married,” I pointed out. “You and Wade used to both be all footloose and fancy free.”

“Wade never got over Dani in high school. He’s exactly where he should be, happily married to the love of his life,” Dylan said, his tone dry.

I couldn’t help but giggle. “He is exactly where he should be. You’re right about that. He never did get over Dani. I’m so freaking glad they both came to their senses,” I said, referring to my brother and his wife. They’d been in love in high school and broken up. Wade had been so hurt, but they’d finally reconciled. “I noticed you avoided my point, though.”

“I’m not Wade. There is no high school sweetheart. I’m not looking for anything serious.”

“Oh, now I’m curious. Why not?”

Dylan’s mouth twisted to the side as he shook his head a little. “Of course, you’re curious. There’s no big story; nobody broke my heart. My parents had a nasty divorce. Once you watch something that ugly, you can’t unsee it. Awful is what it was. I don’t ever want to go through anything like that.”

“Oh.” I sobered. My initial lighthearted teasing about wanting to know the backstory faded. “I’m sorry. That bad?”

He took a slow breath as he nodded. “When I was little, my parents were the kind of couple people envied, totally in love, but it blew up. My sister and I were just collateral damage.”

“I’ve never met your sister. Where is she?”

“Alisa’s actually up in Alaska. She’s one of the reasons I jumped on the chance to go there. We’ve always been close, still are.”

“Oh wow, that’s really cool. I’m sorry about your parents. What happened?”

He eyed me skeptically. “This is what we’re doing? Having deep conversations about our childhood?”

For the first time ever, I sensed a sharp edge with him. I wouldn’t say we were close, but I knew him somewhat well by extension. He and Wade had been best friends for years. He was typically easygoing and mellow.

“You don’t have to get into it. I was just curious. You know that I got dumped at the airport today, which will go down as one of my more embarrassing moments,” I offered with a shrug.

He gestured toward me with a hand. “Fair enough. You know it’s an old story, I suppose. My dad had an affair with my mom’s best friend.”

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