It was for him. Painfully simple. All he wanted in the world was Evie, but she might as well have been a million miles away.
“You don’t know what she’s feeling right now,” Mac said softly. “And I’ve seen the way she looks at you. She cares. Don’t count yourself out just yet.”
Noah nodded slowly, wishing he could believe that as strongly as he had a week ago. “Why did I decide to be noble and volunteer to give her space?” he despaired. “I should be over there right now, with flowers, and candy, and … I don’t know, some grand romantic gesture, trying to win her back.”
“Sometimes it’s the most romantic gesture of all just to listen to someone and give them what they need.” Mackenzie looked rueful. “Annoying huh? Not exactly the stuff of movies and epic poetry.”
“No, it isn’t …,” Noah replied slowly.
“Game of darts?” Cooper spoke up from the other end of the table where he and Poppy had been pretending not to listen. “Don’t I owe you revenge for the last game you won off me? We could make it interesting,” he added. “Loser has to ask Aunt June for a copy of her tape.”
Noah looked around, suddenly feeling restless. The pub was busy tonight, full of warmth and chatter, and he knew his friends were just trying to keep his mind off things, but this was the last place he was supposed to be.
Mackenzie was wrong, she had to be. Staying away from Evie may have been the smart thing to do, but how could he go on pretending like the love of his life wasn’t slipping away?
Enough of this.
Noah got to his feet. “I’m heading out,” he said decisively.
“Noah …,” Mackenzie said in a warning voice, but Noah shook his head.
“It’s fine,” he lied. “Don’t worry. It’s just been a long day, that’s all,” he added, saying his goodbyes.
A long day without Evie, but it wouldn’t end that way.
It couldn’t.
He left the pub and strode through the town square. It was a warm night, as good as summer, and he could see people out strolling, enjoying ice cream and the gentle breeze. Just a week ago, he would have been one of them. On top of the world, wrapped up in Evie and the future he’d thought was stretched in front of them. He’d even been thinking about marriage and kids, for God’s sake.
He wanted that back, and he’d do whatever it took to make it happen.
He was just cutting across the street, ready to go make a fool of himself at the Beachcomber Inn, when someone emerged from the grocery store and stopped dead.
It was Evie.
She looked startled to see him, and for a moment, he just stood there, drinking in the sight of her. She was radiantly beautiful, even in jeans and an oversized knit sweater, her hair in a messy braid. Every part of him ached to take her in his arms.
God, he missed her.
Noah swallowed. For all his sudden determination to go win her back, he still hadn’t figured exactly what he was going to say. “Hey,” he managed, trying to think straight.
“Hi.” Evie glanced away. “I was just … shopping,” she said quickly, lifting the massive grocery bag in her arms as evidence. “I realized I was out of milk, and this is the only place open past six, so … anyway. Hi.”
She offered a weak smile that cut him to the core. Noah remembered the nights they’d spent together, talking about everything under the sun. Their bodies tangled up in passion, their lips never too tired to kiss. How was it that he’d been planning a future with her, and now they were stranded in the street like they were strangers?
Like she wished she was anywhere but there.
So much for wondering if she was missing him the way that he ached for her. Noah wanted to say something—anything—but then a girl Noah didn’t recognize wandered past with her cellphone tucked between her shoulder and her ear. It looked like she’d barely noticed them, but the minute she turned the corner, her voice echoed, gossiping. “Yup, Evie and Noah. No, I don’t know if they’re back together!”
Noah saw Evie wince. “Sorry,” he said. He knew she wasn’t used to having her life up for general discussion. “Small town. I guess we’re what passes as entertainment. At least, until Aunt June finds husband number six,” he added, trying to lighten the mood.
But Evie just nodded.
God, this was torture. He had a million questions spinning in his mind, but whatever big romantic scene he’d been hoping for, this wasn’t it.
In his dreams, Evie barely let him get a word out before swearing she loved him. But looking at her now, he could see that was just his imagination talking.
She couldn’t even look him in the eye.
His hopes deflated.
“Hungry?” Noah asked at last, trying to fill the silence. Evie looked blank, so he nodded at her grocery bag. It was stuffed to the brim with junk food and ice cream.
She blushed. “It’s not just me,” she said quickly. “It’s for—”
“Babe!” Jules appeared from inside the store carrying bags of her own. “I got the limes. It’s margarita time—oh.” She stopped and gave Noah a friendly smile. “Hi there.”
“Hi.” He nodded back. So Evie had someone with her, after all. That was good, he decided. She shouldn’t be dealing with everything alone. “Are you visiting long?” he asked.
“We’ll see.” Jules shrugged. “I need a new job and a new man. Not necessarily in that order,” she added with a smirk. “Know of anything?”
“Men or jobs?” Noah asked.
She laughed. “I’m not picky. No, scratch that, I am.”
Jules must have noticed the tension simmering in the air, because she looked back and forth between them and then linked her arm through Evie’s. “Well, we better be going. The night is young, and we’ve got another thirteen seasons of Grey’s Anatomy waiting for us back at the inn. Nice seeing you,” she called back at him, steering Evie away. “And congrats on the movie!”
The movie? Noah watched them go in confusion until he realized she must be talking about Aunt June’s video.
He sighed. One of those days, he’d have to have a word with that woman, but right then, he couldn’t have cared less. Not with everything that mattered in the world walking away without so much as a backwards glance.
Noah made his way home in a daze. All his earlier reckless determination had faded, leaving nothing but the sting of rejection in its place. Was Evie even thinking about the two of them and what she wanted to do? Or was this her way of ending things for good: just acting like it was over until, finally, he got the hint. Noah had given enough dates the slow fade to know the score, but he couldn’t believe Evie would let everything they shared just melt away.
He loved her. They were meant to be.
Weren’t they?
18
“Left a bit … no, the other way!”
Evie groaned in pain. “You expect me to know left from right after all the margaritas you were pouring down my throat last night?”
Jules grinned. “You mean, all two of them?” she asked, teasing.
“The way you mix them, it was more like six.” Evie tried to hold on to her end of the dresser, but it wasn’t exactly easy with her head pounding and her stomach in knots. “I haven’t had a hangover like this since college.”