Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 96141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
“Okay…”
“And…we had a great two months.”
“You don’t think a long-distance relationship will work?”
“It’s not me. It’s Hunter.”
“He doesn’t think it will work?”
“I have no idea. We basically agreed to be fuck buddies for a few months. Now it’s over.”
“Do you want more?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know.”
“You sound sure of yourself.”
“I like him, Anna. A lot. Way more than I wanted to.”
“Oh, honey. Does he know how you feel?”
“I haven’t come right out and told him, although he knows I have feelings for him. But he won’t even let himself consider giving things a go.”
“Why?”
“And there’s the million-dollar question.”
Even three thousand miles away, Anna knew I was hurting. Her voice softened. “God, I’m sorry, Nat. I told you when you first met that I knew he dated a lot. But so do a lot of guys. I thought…you know, sometimes it just takes the right woman to come along.”
Sometimes the unspoken words are heard the loudest. I wasn’t the right woman for Hunter. While that hurt to think of, it also reminded me of the woman I’d been curious about.
“Let me ask you, do you know the details of what happened between Hunter and the woman he dated for a long time?”
“Summer? Not really. I know they met while in college, but they’d broken up before I met Derek. The only thing I really know is she called Derek a bunch of times after Hunter broke it off. She’d have a few drinks and call him, all upset about the break up.”
“He broke it off with her?” For some reason, I’d assumed it was the other way around and he was skittish because his heart had been broken. Oh wait, maybe that was me.
“Yeah. He definitely broke it off. Although I don’t really know why. Derek never said, and I never had a reason to ask. But let me poke around a bit.”
“Alright. Don’t make it too obvious.”
We stayed on the phone for another half hour, chatting about Caroline, the christening, Izzy, and life in general. It felt really good to talk to her, even if I still had more questions than answers about Hunter when I hung up.
Chapter 30
Natalia
Izzy got sick with the flu, and it lingered for more than a week.
So the plans I had with Hunter to enjoy our last week and a half had turned into him coming over and watching TV on my couch while Izzy beckoned me from her room every fifteen minutes.
Tonight was supposed to be our first date night now that Izzy was finally feeling better. She had a sleepover for a friend’s birthday, so we would even have the full night to ourselves. Unfortunately, not even that enticing thought could get my ass out of bed to start the day. Every bone in my body ached. I felt so awful that I had to use my cell to call Izzy from my bedroom to make sure she was up for school. The thought of standing and walking from my room to hers made me too exhausted to actually do it.
Still in denial that I’d caught the flu from my stepdaughter, I canceled my morning appointments and went back to sleep for a few hours. My hope plummeted around noon when I woke up and dragged my ass to the bathroom, where I took my temperature. A hundred and two.
I can’t be sick.
I have a date tonight, and Hunter is leaving in three days.
A wave of chills seemed to answer that thought—but not the type of chills I normally had when thinking of Hunter Delucia. My brain wanted to be frustrated, but honestly, I didn’t have the energy to be upset. It was all I could do to choke down two Tylenol and crawl back under the covers.
I couldn’t bring myself to officially cancel my date until Hunter texted later in the afternoon.
Hunter: Wear red tonight.
Disappointment settled in. This was how things were going to end for us. We wouldn’t even get to go out with a bang.
It hurt the skin on my fingers to type back, if that was even possible.
Natalia: The only red I’ll be wearing tonight is from a fever. Sorry. I think I caught Izzy’s flu.
Hunter: Shit. Sorry. You need anything?
Natalia: Got a magic pill to make me better?
Hunter: I’m going to refrain from telling you I have something you can swallow that will make you feel better.
I smiled and shook my head.
Natalia: I’m really glad you refrained…
Hunter went silent after that. On any other day, I probably would’ve wasted two hours overanalyzing the stream of texts. Lucky for me, today I didn’t have the energy. The fever had wiped me out, and I fell back asleep for a few more hours, until the buzzer woke me.
I padded to the door with my blanket wrapped around me.
“Hello?”
“Just me,” Hunter’s voice said. “Got done early so brought you some chicken soup.”