Don't Be Afraid To Love

Chapter 24

I decided to exit the car and go home that night despite the strong desire I felt to spend more time with Robert. But I felt the touch of his lips lingering on mine long after we parted, and that song from the radio played obsessively in my head the whole night.

For the rest of the week, Robert and I only talked briefly on the phone and didn't see each other because he had a lot of stuff to do at work he said he was tired.

Saturday morning, Maria called me to announce to me that she was going to arrive in an hour to come pick me up for the hike. I had asked her to take me with their car because mine was taken to the annual revision and I was only going to get it back on Monday morning, so I was going to be a pedestrian for the whole weekend - which I hated.

I had been trying to save up some money to buy my own car one day, but ever since I moved out of my mother's, that plan kind of failed.

There was a nice hiking trail about 60 km away from the city. We were going to go by car until we reached the barrier, and then we would meet the others there, and then go on foot from there.

"Nick just called me," Maria told her husband Jacob while we were about to reach the destination. "He and Lizzy, Robby and the others are already there."

Maria had a way of creating a diminutive for every name she said. So when I heard her saying 'Robby', the only thing I could think of was that she probably meant 'Robert.'

I knew Jacob and Robert were colleagues, but it just didn't cross my mind that he might actually go to the hike as well, since he didn't mention anything to me about it. Robert only said he was away for the day, but I thought he meant he was going out for work purposes.

When we reached the meeting point, there were many other cars parked there, and I started to search with my eyes for Robert's charcoal Kuga. It wasn't there, but when I got out of the car and went with Maria and Jacob towards the group of people that waited for us, I saw him among them. Talking to Carmen.

Of course...

Maybe that was why he didn't tell me where he was going.

I felt again that awful disappointment, and my heart started to beat faster because of the rage.

As we reached the group, out of nowhere, I saw Andreya running towards me, yelling joyfully: "Diana!"

I lifted her in my arms and kissed her on the cheek. That little girl's happiness was so contagious that for a second, I forgot about the horrible mood I got seeing Robert there with Carmen.

"Hey, pretty girl!" I said to Andreya.

I looked towards the group and noticed there were two older kids in the group, and when I looked a little further from the cars, I saw Robert's car as well.

I saw him getting a glimpse of me, and I could tell he was surprised to see me there. He stopped talking to his colleagues and made his way to me.

"Hey!" Robert said with a soft voice. "What are you doing here?" he asked me, keeping a low voice as if somehow didn't want the others to hear.

"Maria invited me," I replied while putting Andreya back on the ground. "My car is in the shop for the annual revision, so I came with her and Jacob. Why didn't you say anything about this?"

"Oh, it's just some gathering with some of the guys at work. I didn't know you would've liked to come," he explained, somewhat confused.

I realized that that was the answer I was waiting for regarding what Robert thought about 'us' or telling other people about us: he didn't want anyone to know. Maybe it was better that way. No complications. No explanations. No people looking weird at us.