“Because I wasn’t the one that was going to marry him. I wasn’t in love with him.”
“It’s not like that.” How could she make him see what she felt, the pain and confusion? She reached out to touch him, but he took a step back.
“I’m going back inside. I’ll see you in there.”
She watched him walk away, and knew that things between Jason and her were not okay anymore.
What had just happened?
CHAPTER
thirty-two
IT’S LIKE SHE’S there with Owen all the time,” Jason said to Clay and Alice. “Like the breakup never happened.”
Clay lifted his beer and took a sip, then looked over at Jason, the three of them enjoying some happy hour time at Owen’s brew pub, where they’d been pitching in to help. Now that all the stock was loaded and the brewery was clean, it was time to sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Right now, Jason was enjoying a dark APA that was going down nicely.
“Define all the time,” Alice asked.
“It’s been two weeks, and as far as I know she’s been over there almost every night.”
“Huh,” Clay said. “You think they’re back together again?”
“I don’t know. She’s at his place as much as she can be, helping out with his laundry and feeding him meals and taking care of him. And I try to talk to her, but she’s been vague, saying she’s busy juggling things and she doesn’t have time to see me right now.”
Alice came over and rubbed his shoulder. “Do you think it’s because she feels some sense of responsibility for Owen? They were engaged.”
“Yeah. And Owen was the one to break it off.”
Alice gave him a sympathetic look. “Because he was sick. Because he didn’t want Erin to feel obligated to him. Her loyalties are divided right now, and she’s likely feeling confused and emotional. Give her some time to come to terms with how she feels, Jason.”
Clay leaned back against the chair and nodded. “Yeah, I agree with Alice. You pressuring her right now is only gonna get her riled up and make her push back. You don’t want that.”
No, he didn’t. He took another swallow of beer and let his conversation with Clay and Alice sink in.
Maybe they were right and he was worrying for nothing. Then again, maybe they didn’t know Erin like he did. When she went in, she went all in. It was the reason she’d ended up with Owen in the first place.
She’d always had blinders on with Owen.
But he’d back off and give her some time to figure out her own heart. Because if Jason wasn’t the guy she wanted to be with, Erin was the one who had to make that decision. He couldn’t make it for her.
And he couldn’t force her to love him, either, especially if she was still in love with Owen.
Just the thought of that stayed with him for the rest of the day as he made his way over to Owen’s. Owen had asked him to come over and hang out with him that night. Jason stopped at the store and picked up groceries for dinner. Owen answered.
“Hey. You look pretty good.”
Owen laughed. “So what you’re saying is I normally look like shit?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what I meant.”
They walked into the living room. Owen had the baseball game on, so Jason put the food in the fridge, then fixed himself a glass of ice water and came in to sit next to Owen.
“It’s my off week, treatment-wise, so I tend to build up strength and weight during this week.”
“So you’re feeling good this week.”
“Yeah, I feel great. Almost like normal again. Or my new normal, anyway.”
“Hey, you’ll be normal again as soon as you’re finished with treatment. Then you can go back to your life the way it was before.”
Owen looked over at him. “Ya think?”
Jason gave him an encouraging grin. “I don’t think. I know.”
“Yeah. That’s what I think, too.”
“So was Erin here today?”
“No, she had a wedding this afternoon that was going to last until late. She said she’d try to come by tomorrow after work.”
“That’s good.” They watched the game for a while.
“Do you think you and Erin will end up back together?”
Owen glanced at him. “Why?”
Jason tried to shrug nonchalantly. “Just curious.”
“Huh.” Owen slid off the couch. “Let’s cook some dinner.”
“Okay.”
Jason had brought chicken breasts to grill, along with vegetables and some fruit to make a salad. He wanted to make sure Owen ate healthy food, so he and Owen sliced and seasoned the zucchini and squash and put them on the grill pan. Owen started on chopping up the fruit while Jason went outside and fired up the grill and cooked the chicken and vegetables. By the time he brought the food inside, Owen had the fruit salad made and was popping grapes in his mouth while talking on his speakerphone.
“Yeah, Jason’s here and we’re grilling chicken and veggies.”
“Oh. Well, that sounds fun. Say hi to Jason for me.”
Jason recognized Erin’s voice. “I’m right here. Hey, Erin.”
“Hey. How’s it going?”
“Good. You?”
“Fine. Busy here. Well, I’ve gotta go. Talk to you later, Owen.”
Owen gave Jason a frown as he said, “Yeah, later, Erin. Bye.”
He tucked his phone into the pocket of his shorts. “That was weird.”
“What was weird?”
“You. And Erin. It was tense.”
“No, it wasn’t.” It had been tense as hell, but he didn’t want Owen to pick up on that. He plated their food and they went back into the living room to eat and finish watching the game.
Owen was silent while he ate, and Jason kept his focus on the game, hoping Owen would forget about that earlier phone conversation.
“What’s going on with you and Erin?” Owen asked when he put his empty plate on the table in front of the sofa.
Guess he hadn’t forgotten. “Don’t know what you mean.”
“Come on, buddy. I know I’ve been missing in action for a while. Tell me what went down with you and Erin.”
He took in a breath and blew it out, then laid his plate on top of Owen’s. “We’ve been spending time together. It started out with her wanting revenge on you dumping her.”
Owen laughed. “That sounds like something Erin would do.”
“And then we started seeing a lot of each other.”
“And now it’s turned into something more?”
Jason shrugged and stared at the TV, trying to downplay it.
“You’re in love with her.”
He shifted his gaze, looking at Owen. “Yeah. I am.”
“Does she feel the same?”
“I don’t know. We didn’t get that far.”
“Okay. Thanks for telling me.”
“I don’t know how she feels now, Owen. She thought you were over her, that you dumped and ran. She didn’t know—about all this. This changed everything.”
Now it was Owen’s turn to shift his attention to the TV. “Yeah, I know it did. But, honestly? Everything changed with us even before I got sick.”