“I understand.”
“Watch your back, son. And watch your family.”
“I will. Thank you.”
The call ended and I was still standing there in my underwear.
CHAPTER 43
SUMMER
Ichecked my phone for the third time and found nothing. No text. No missed call. Nothing. I set it face down on the kitchen counter and told myself to stop. He was late. Twenty minutes late, which wasn’t the end of the world. People were late. Traffic happened. Phones died. There were a thousand completely reasonable explanations for why Colt Anderson had not shown up and had not responded to either of my texts.
But he lived next door. He didn’t get to use traffic as an excuse. I knew he had power. There weren’t any emergency vehicles at his house. The only excuse he had was he was at the bottom of the stairs after a nasty fall.
His car was in the driveway. So he was home. He hadn’t been in an accident. He hadn’t driven off a bridge. He was right next door, twenty yards away, and apparently had decided not to come over and not to answer his phone. He was ignoring me.
Don’t spiral, I told myself.You are a grown woman. You are not going to spiral over twenty minutes.
Twenty-five minutes.
Becca had taken the kids out, so I was home alone. It was too quiet. And it was leaving me too much time to think.
I love you, Summer Banks.
He had said those words and now he was standing me up. I could only believe he was getting cold feet.Hadcold feet. Yesterday had been amazing. I gave him the choice and he had told me he wanted me. He said he wanted to stay. He made me believe there was a chance we were going to make it.
I hadn’t asked him to stay. I wouldn’t do that because I understood what he was giving up. But he was the one that said he wanted to stay. I could have moved on.
But he said he wanted to stay and I let myself believe there was a chance for a forever with him. I let him back in and now I was getting my heart broken again. I was prepared for him to leave in September. I had accepted that and then he told me he loved me.
I stood up.
I was not doing this. I was not going to sit here and manufacture a catastrophe. If something was wrong, I was going to find out what it was. And if nothing was wrong and he had simply lost track of time, I was going to feel extremely silly and I would accept that consequence with grace. But I wasn’t going to sit here and stew. If he was ending this, he was going to do it to my face.
I was dressed, wearing the pretty lingerie and makeup. Makeup! I was not going to take getting stood up lying down. I grabbed my sandals off the mat by the back door and shoved my feet into them and walked across the yard before I could talk myself out of it.
I walked up on the deck and knocked on the door. The porch light was on. I could hear movement inside the house. I knocked again, louder this time. I had not gotten all done up to be ignored through a screen door.
The door swung open. Colt stood there in a T-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts. His hair was a mess. He had his phonepressed against his ear. He looked at me and seemed confused by my presence.
I watched the exact moment it hit him. He looked down at himself. Then me. Then his phone.
“Oh no,” he breathed.
And just like that, the tight knot that had been sitting in my chest for the last thirty minutes dissolved completely. He hadn’t gotten cold feet. He hadn’t changed his mind. He had forgotten that we had plans. I wasn’t sure that was any better but at least it wasn’t intentional.
“You forgot,” I said.
“I have to go,” he said into the phone. “Yeah, yeah, we’ll talk tomorrow.” He ended the call and grabbed my hand. “Summer. Shit. I am so sorry. I got served this morning and I’ve been on the phone with my attorney and investors, my family and crisis management.” He stopped himself. Ran a hand through his hair. “I lost track of time. I completely lost track of time. I’m so sorry. I’m an asshole.”
I wasn’t mad. Not really. He had a lot on his plate. I didn’t appreciate being forgotten, but given the circumstances, it was understandable.
“You look incredible,” he said. His eyes moved over me. His reaction made the effort to get ready for him all worth it.
“You’re not an asshole,” I said.
“I’m a complete idiot.”