Lib Novel Page 70
“Actually, yes.”
That made me chuckle a little. “Figures.”
“Listen, I appreciate the ride and I’m sorry you got stuck with me. After I saw you at the bar, I thought I had a pretty good read on the kind of guy you are. So when Louise mentioned you, I egged her on a little bit. I wanted a shot at being alone with you and thought I could indulge her at the same time.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
She folded her hands in her lap and I hoped she was done. She wasn’t.
“But really, who hurt you?”
“No one.”
She laughed. “Come on, Josiah. We both know that’s not true. Emotionally unavailable men aren’t born that way.”
“What made you like emotionally unavailable men so much?”
“Touché.”
Thankfully, she left it at that. I didn’t really want to know.
I drove her across town to her grandma’s house. Florence lived down a gravel road that gave my shocks a workout. I stopped in front of the house, put the truck in park, and waited for her to get out.
“Thanks again for the ride.”
“No problem.”
“I won’t try to give you my number because I don’t think you’ll take it. But if you change your mind, the offer’s on the table.”
I grunted a noncommittal reply.
“Have a good day, Josiah.”
“You too.”
She got out and I waited until she opened the front door before I turned the truck around and left. My mom had drilled that into me.
Marlene, not my biological mother. If there’d been anything that woman had wanted to teach me, she hadn’t stuck around long enough to do it.
I headed back through town, fully intending to go home. I was done working for the day. There wasn’t any reason to go back to the remodel.
As for Audrey, I didn’t know what I was so worried about. She wasn’t my girlfriend. Why did I care if she’d seen me with Aida? We hadn’t been doing anything.
Audrey wasn’t my problem.
Except that was a big-ass lie.
She was very much my problem.
A sense of hard resolve poured through me. It was time I stopped lying to myself. That wasn’t getting me anywhere.
I turned toward Audrey’s house, not quite sure what I was going to do. I didn’t have a plan. I just knew I needed to see her.
Now.
CHAPTER19
Audrey