“Come out of that room and get your butt in here,” Low called from my living room. I really needed to hide the extra key in a better spot.
Rolling over in bed, I stood up and dragged myself into the kitchen.
“What’re you doing here, Low?”
Low took in my appearance and shook her head. “You look awful. You need to get a shower and shave.”
“Thanks. If that’s all you wanted to tell me I’m going back to bed,” I grumbled.
“No, you’re not. I came over here because we need to talk.”
I leaned against the counter and crossed my arms over my chest.
“Talk,” I replied.
Low pulled herself up to sit on the bar. “Why are you doing this to yourself? Why did you leave if you were just going to waste away in your apartment?”
Sighing, I ran my fingers through my bed head. “I told you Low, her dad made me.”
“When has anyone ever made YOU do anything? Hmmm? Because the Cage I’ve known all my life does what he damn well pleases and screw the rules.”
“Even if I had stayed she wouldn’t have ever wanted me. She didn’t want me for anything more than a summer fling. I was a way of moving on for her.”
Low shook her head, “I don’t believe that. I met her. I saw the way she looked at you. She isn’t the kind of girl who just messes around for fun.”
“She rejected me, Low. When it came down to it and she had to choose her family and friends or me she chose them. Yeah, I forgave that and took her back but she was extremely persuasive. She rejected me once. She’ll do it again. When things get tough it will never be me she chooses.”
“And you know this because she made one bad decision? She was put on the spot and panicked, Cage.”
I shoved off from the counter. I didn’t want to get angry with Low. I’d never been mad at her but she was pushing me. I wasn’t going to be able to control my emotions over this. .
“I. Love. Her.” I said in hard clipped words.
“Then take your own advice. Take. A. Chance.”
Take a chance. I’d told her that about Marcus. She’d been worried he’d leave her one day. Like me, she was scared of rejection. I’d told her to give Marcus a chance.
“I knew Marcus loved you,” I replied
Low took a step toward me, “And I know anyone you let get close to you the way you let Eva won’t be able to NOT love you. It would be impossible. You have no idea how special you are. You see the bad. You’ve always just seen the bad. But I see the good. There is so much that is good and wonderful about you. You let Eva see that. You’ve never let anyone else see it before, except me. But you let her. I know, that she can’t help but love what she saw.”
Tears were streaming down Low’s face when she finished.
I closed the distance between us and pulled her into a hug.
“Thank you,” I whispered as I rested my chin on the top of her head.
“Don’t thank me. Just go get her.”
Eva
I stepped out of the barn just as Mrs. Elaine drove up. I hadn’t been expecting her but that didn’t mean anything. She used to drop by to see me often. With Jeremy gone off to school she was probably just needing to talk about him.
“Sure is good to see you with that guitar again,” she smiled brightly.
I walked up the porch steps toward her and opened the door.
“It’s nice to be playing it again. You want to come in?”