A Two-Seater Was Never Meant for Three Chapter 09

A Two-Seater Was Never Meant for Three Chapter 09

Gavin and I moved in together as a couple.

His company wasn’t based in Millbrook, but he flew back every week to see me.

Even when he was working late, he’d video-call just to watch me fall asleep.

Every worry I’d ever had turned out to be unfounded.

Love can carry you through anything-I finally understood what that meant.

But he was such a gentleman it bordered on frustrating–we hadn’t even kissed yet.

When I mentioned it to his mother, she laughed so hard she could barely speak.

“His people skills, he gets from me-goes after what he wants without hesitation. But when it comes to romance, he’s exactly like his father. Old-fashioned.”

Then she leaned in and whispered something in my ear that left me blushing scarlet, like a boiled

shrimp.

The students finished their finals, and the year was winding down.

That afternoon, I was walking home with fish and chicken for dinner, planning to cook for Gavin, when I spotted a figure standing in the snow.

The oversized winter coat made Julian look thin, almost gaunt.

I’d heard his advisor had been arrested for academic misconduct-his graduation was in jeopardy

now too.

“You moved.”

His voice was flat, carrying a kind of hollow weariness.

His eyes dropped to the groceries in my hands, and something bitter, self-mocking, curved at the

corner of his mouth.

“We’ve known each other eight years. From students to now. You spent eight years liking me.”

“And it’s only been three months, and you’ve already moved on to someone else?”

I thought he wanted to pick another fight and was already bracing myself to snap back-until I

caught the sudden red rimming his eyes.

“So what happens to me now?”

“I’ve had a lot of time to think, these past few days. The truth is, I never actually loved Chloe. It was

always you.”

“Chloe and I-we’re cut from the same cloth. You’re different from us. I loved that spark in you… I

just never knew how to say it.”

“When I first told you how I felt, I really was only looking for something casual. But somewhere along the way, every plan I made for my life had you in it. Eight years-I got used to you being there,

without even noticing.”

“That day I watched you walk off with another man, my chest hurt so badly I thought it might actually break. I never want to feel that again.”

“Wendy. Is there really no chance for us anymore?”

The snow began to fall again. My heart felt calmer than it ever had.

“Julian. Do you remember what you said?”

“What?”

“That breaking up meant nothing to you either way.”

I watched the light in his eyes freeze over, watched him crumple like a mountain giving way.

As I passed him, I said one last thing.

“I hope you don’t turn into someone even you can’t stand.”

I got home, pushed the door open, and warmth rushed out to meet me.

Gavin stood at the stove in an apron, ladling soup out of a pot.

He looked up and smiled when he saw me.

“Meeting ended early, so I came home. Didn’t want to spoil the surprise.”

Three simple dishes. Fish. Chicken. The same things I’d bought.

It had been the meal I’d planned to test his taste with.

He’d thought I wanted them tonight and made them all himself.

A thousand things crowded up in my throat at once. I sniffed, and wrapped my arms around him

from behind.

Clatter.

The ladle had slipped from Gavin’s hand. The back of his neck went red.

“What’s wrong?”

“My mom says I should bring you home to meet her this Christmas. I already said yes for you.”

Gavin froze completely, the easy composure he wore like armor in every boardroom cracking apart

–for a moment, he looked like nothing so much as a boy caught off guard.

He cleared his throat and turned, pulling me into his arms. “Are you sure?”

There’s no such thing as knowing the future.

I wasn’t a fortune teller. I just wasn’t afraid of getting close to happiness anymore.

I only believed one thing.

No matter how many times the cold has buried something real, spring always comes again, and the

flowers bloom just the same.