if he expected her to fix this, he had another think coming. She went out of her way to be there for him. If he just wanted them to go back to the way things used to be, he’d find that for the first time, she didn’t want to be his everything—excluding what she really wanted to be to him.
She liked being his friend, but if that’s all he wanted, then he needed to let her take the time and space she needed to find someone who wanted to make her happy.
Clint had made a real effort today and she appreciated it. For a while there, they’d talked and laughed and enjoyed their time together.
Her phone dinged with another text. She picked it up.
CLINT: Never leave me wanting again with just a peck on the cheek
She laughed under her breath and realized that after all he’d done she owed him a sexier goodbye than a friendly peck.
CLINT: Miss you already
She smiled at the simple words that meant so much.
CLINT: I’ll pick you up at your place for the movie
CLINT: I expect a kiss good-morning to make up for the one you gave me at lunch
Which meant he wanted to spend the night.
The thing about the kiss niggled at the back of her mind.
Why hadn’t she planted a kiss on him filled with heat?
Because she’d been thinking about Tate rescuing her from James and making him pay for tormenting her and how sweet that was for Tate to do just for her.
She needed to stop thinking about Tate and impossible things and focus on the here and now and the man who missed and wanted her.
Maybe she couldn’t unlove Tate, but she could make room in her heart to love someone else.
She sat back in her seat and stared up at the ceiling hoping Tate hadn’t doomed her to never falling in love with someone else and a life of loneliness pining away for a man who didn’t want her.
People settled all the time. If that’s what she was doing with Clint, well, he wasn’t such a bad guy. She could do worse.
At least she wouldn’t be alone.
That’s what had changed between her and Tate.
All those calls they shared, all the time they spent together, it hit her all at once weeks ago when they hung up after a long call where he’d talked about how much he wanted to meet someone like the woman Drake fell hard and fast for. Tate wanted a real relationship with someone. He wanted to be in love. And after pouring out his heart, he’d hung up with her and she’d felt dismissed.
Even though they’d never talked about how she felt about him, he’d never acknowledged it or even thought about accepting her love for him. He’d never considered her for the person to be the one who filled that longing in him.
She couldn’t make him love her.
She couldn’t flip a switch in him and make him see her in a different way.
To him, she’d forever be his best friend, Lizzy Lizard, and nothing more.
Tonight she’d let him know she accepted that now, even if it left a crack in her heart.
In time, that persistent ache would heal. She’d find happiness with someone else.
So would he.
And when he did, her heart would break again, but she’d wish him all the happiness in the world because she loved him that much.
Chapter Five
Tate put the last plate and fork in the dishwasher and shut it. He and Declan shared a roof over their heads and split the chores, while the meals were prepared courtesy of their little sister, Trinity, with prepared food from Almost Homemade. Trinity and Adria put together a week’s worth of meals for them, and Trinity delivered them every Sunday. He and Declan knew she just wanted to come out there to make sure they hadn’t burned the place down, or left their underwear strewn all over the house.
The thought made him chuckle under his breath.
What did she expect, that they’d turned into heathens when she moved out and into the apartment over the shop?
“What are you smiling about? I thought you were worried about this talk with Liz.”
“I am. I was just thinking about Trinity and how she brings food out to us every week.”
Declan rolled his eyes. “She thinks we can’t do anything domestic on our own.”
“I have to admit I liked it better when she did the dishes.”
Declan frowned. “There’s so few to do now, it’s not that bad.”