Not Quite Over You
Page 63

“You’re wrong,” he told her. “You can’t—” He turned on his heel. “Fine. If this is what you want, I’m out of here.”
He got in his car and drove away. Silver double-checked that the trailers were locked, then went to her own place. Once she was inside, she sat on the sofa and told herself to just breathe. For the next few days, that was all she had to do. She would figure out how to fill the hole in her heart later.
CHAPTER TWENTY
DREW COULDN’T SETTLE on an emotion. Rage, sure. Hurt, blinding hurt, yes. But as to the rest of it, he was clueless. Feeling swirled through him, building and retreating, kicking him in the gut before moving on.
He got to his house only to realize he didn’t want to go inside. He was afraid of what he would say if he saw his mother. Not knowing what else to do, he retreated to his garage, where he stood at the small workbench on one side and tried to figure out what the hell had gone so wrong.
He’d assumed that if anything broke them up it would be Autumn. But when it came to their daughter, they’d pulled together, working through their issues. But this...
He laughed without humor. This? He didn’t even know what this was.
“Son, you all right?” His dad walked in from the house. “You’ve been out here awhile.”
Drew looked at his father. “I can’t do this, Dad. I know what the plan is, but I won’t be a part of it. You’re screwing with my life.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Silver and Autumn.”
His father frowned. “Silver? That girl you knew in high school?”
“Yes, we’re back together. It’s serious.” Or it had been.
“I didn’t know. I thought—” He shook his head. “Wait. Who’s Autumn?”
Drew couldn’t believe it. “Mom didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what? Drew, what’s going on? Start at the beginning, please.”
Had his mother really not said anything about Autumn? Even as he thought the question, Drew realized he already had the answer. Of course, she’d kept the information to herself. It was inconvenient.
“Silver got pregnant over that summer,” he began. “We agreed she would give up the baby for adoption. What I recently found out was that Silver stayed in touch with the woman who adopted our child.
“She was here, Dad,” he said, unable not to smile when he talked about her. “She’s great. Smart and funny and still a kid but on the verge of growing up. I got to know her and I can’t wait to see her again.”
His father looked stunned. “I don’t understand. You told your mother about this?”
“Every word. I told her when Autumn was in town. It didn’t go well.”
His father leaned heavily against the workbench. “I can’t believe it. We have a granddaughter?”
Drew got out his phone and showed his father several pictures.
“She’s beautiful,” his dad breathed. “I want to meet her. Please tell me I can.”
“I’m sure Leigh would be open to it. Autumn would be thrilled. She’s very into having a lot of family. She met Grandpa Frank.”
His father stared at him. “She was in the big house? And your mother didn’t meet her?”
“She didn’t want to, Dad.” There was a lot to be said about that, but he had more pressing issues. “I gave her up without a second thought. I was all about college and my future. I signed the paperwork and that was it. Silver had to deal with being pregnant but not me. I went on with my life.”
He walked the length of the garage, then returned to his father. “Dad, I don’t want to join your lobbying firm. That’s not me. I want to help people one-on-one. I want to enjoy my friends and I want to fall in love and settle down.”
“With Silver?”
“I’d hoped so. Now I’m less sure.” She’d cut him loose—for the second time. She’d been the one to insist they break up before he went off to college. She’d been right that first time, but now? He didn’t think so.
“We were so young and I made so many mistakes. I don’t know what she’s thinking these days. She won’t tell me.”
“Did you ask?” His father studied him. “Did you fight for her? Does she know you’re in love with her?”
And there it was, he thought, almost not surprised. Sometimes the truth just walked out in front of a man and smiled up at him. He was in love with Silver. That was it—that was why everything else seemed out of kilter in his life. He was looking at it all without realizing he was totally and completely in love with Silver.
Before he could respond, the door to the house opened. Julie stepped out, then came to a stop.
“Wow,” she said with a sigh. “I have incredibly bad timing.” She turned to go back in the house.
“Wait,” Drew called. “What’s going on?”
“I, ah, booked a flight back to D.C. for tonight.” She gave Howard an apologetic smile. “This isn’t working out the way any of us thought it would, so I’m heading home. The thing is, I need a ride to Palm Springs so I can catch the red-eye to New York. From there I’ll get a quick flight to D.C.”
“I’ll take you,” Drew said quickly. “It’s the least I can do.”
Julie shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Drew walked toward her. “It’s a great idea. Come on. You can yell at me the whole way to the airport.”
“I don’t want to yell at you, Drew. None of this is your fault.”
“I appreciate that and I’m still taking you to Palm Springs. When do you want to leave?”
She gave him a smile. “How about right now?”
* * *
SILVER MANAGED TO stay strong, right up until she got a text from a D.C. number. If she had to guess, she would say it came from Irene. She was the only person Silver knew who was horrible enough to want to break someone she barely knew.
The text simply said I thought you should know. It was followed by a forwarded message.
Julie and I are in Palm Springs. I’m taking her to dinner before heading home.
As there was only one Julie in Silver’s life, it wasn’t hard to put the pieces together. In less than a day, Drew had moved on.
All her fears came to life. Even as her brain said the message could be interpreted to mean that he was leaving Julie in Palm Springs and coming home alone, her heart shattered into even more pieces. She lay on the sofa, fighting tears, knowing she was never going to be okay, never going to recover. It was always going to hurt. She’d finally figured out she’d been in love with Drew all this time and now he was gone.
When the pain got too big to contain, she called Natalie.
“Hey, you. What’s up?”
The familiar, cheerful voice should have comforted her. Instead she felt herself sinking deeper into despair.
“Drew and I,” she began, her voice shaking.
“I’m at the gallery,” Natalie said, interrupting. “Are you at home?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll be there in five minutes. Maybe less. Don’t go anywhere.”
Silver got up and unlocked the door, then went into the kitchen to start a pot of tea. Before the water had boiled, she turned off the stove and got out a bottle of tequila. She cut up limes and pulled out a shaker filled with good quality salt.