“Well, then, maybe you shouldn’t have kissed me last night. Then I would have no reason to avoid you today,” she answered simply, keeping her eyes on her bowl of cereal.
“What are you saying? That I should just ignore my feelings for you, just swallow them, pretend they’re not there? I can’t do that. I’m sorry,” he said bluntly.
She snickered bitterly. “Gee, that’s funny. You did a good job of it last night when you left.”
“Sleeping with you was not an option! I wasn’t going to hurt you like that! I know how upset you were when you got pregnant with Caitlin. After that, you told me you were going to start taking sex a lot more seriously. I wasn’t gonna let you throw that promise away for a one-night-stand with me, no matter how I felt about you.”
“If you weren’t lying when you said you were in love with me, then it wouldn’t have been a one-night-stand.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? That you’d actually date me?” he demanded.
She sighed and finally met his eyes. “I don’t know. Until yesterday, I only thought of you as a best friend. All of a sudden, you kissed me, and here I am thinking maybe there could be more.”
“You think there could be more?”
“I don’t know!” she said exasperatedly. “You…you changed things, and I’m gonna have to get used to this.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to change things. You’re right, I shouldn’t have done anything.”
She shook her head. “No, you’re right. If you have strong feelings for someone, if you love someone, you can’t exactly push them aside, especially when you’re living with that person. It hurts too bad, and it’s not right for me to ask you to put yourself through that.” She looked at the clock and thankfully managed to change the subject. “I have some things to do today. I’ll pick up Caitlin from my sister’s and take her with me so you don’t have to worry about her.”
“You know I don’t mind watching her.”
“I leave her with you too much, Nick. I don’t wanna take advantage of you.”
“What are you going to do today?”
“I’m going to go shopping for new clothes for her. She’s growing fast. That’s another reason I should take her along, so I can make sure the clothes I pick out fit her right.”
“She’ll be four next week.”
“I know. How scary is that? I’m only twenty-three, and I’m gonna have a four-year-old daughter.”
“You’re almost twenty-four. I turn twenty-four in two weeks, and you’re a month younger than me.”
“I know, but still.”
“Well, if you really wanna take Caitlin, then go ahead. I’ll just chill at home all day.”
“Okay. I’ll come back here and get changed and drop her off before going to the diner.”
“All right.”
“I’m gonna go take a shower now.”