A Way Out

Chapter 21

She made a mistake. It's been three weeks and those were three long weeks. Dallas thought she was doing Christian a favor by not seeing him. She didn't want him to get involved with her and now she realized that she trampled all over her very own heart. Dallas discovered in their days apart that she grew fond of Christian's shy smiles and his gentle approach. She even came to the realization that him opening up about his past touched her. There hadn't been a man in her life that did that so openly when she was with them.

Now she had come to this point. She stood in front of the coffee shop but didn't dare to enter. What if he wasn't even there? What if he gave up on ever seeing her again? That was a loss she had to take because it had been her own doing. Dallas put her red hair in a ponytail, trying to muster up enough courage to enter.

When her heart finally decided it was time, she turned the door handle and entered the shop. The familiar chiming of the bells didn't disturb the busy atmosphere within the coffee shop. Customers continued to go about their day and Dallas looked around to find her familiar brown eyes. She needed desperately to see them again. To see the tenderness, they so often held when he looked at her. Dallas shouldn't pain herself anymore, but seeing him again was going to be painful enough.

Her heart fell when she couldn't seem to find him, but she realized how daft she had been, because there he was, sitting in her usual spot on the couch. Christian's eyes were dark and his gaze heavy. Dallas's heart broke at the sight of him. She felt like an even more awful person than she usually did. She broke this lovely man, and for what? To protect herself or to protect him? These days apart had the same effect on her, so it benefited neither of them.

When she thought he didn't see her, she turned around, the cowardness in her taking over again. "Dallas?" he called softly from behind her. She squinted her eyes shut, ashamed of her behavior. Dallas quickly realized that now it must look as if she were about to leave, because of him, but that wasn't the case.

It was now or never to face whatever there was going on between them, so she turned around and met the tenderness she longed for.

With a sigh, I closed my notebook. I wondered if Donovan would ever be brave enough to face me. Did he even long for me as I did for him? It would have been easy to turn my back on the whole thing if it didn't leave me with so many questions. What was he hiding? What frustrated me, even more, was that Cole said that Donovan still feels the same way. What freaking way is that? He tells me nothing. Maybe the best thing for me to do was to focus on the manuscript and never, ever get involved with another man again. It always ended up giving me a splitting headache.

Okay, imagine this. It's the afternoon, you and your best friend are out for some lunch and the entire time her eyes are glued to the screen of her phone. Imagine the conversations we could have had. Raleigh and I were sitting outside in the sun and the only words she had spoken were 'yeah' and 'okay'. The rest of the time she was furiously typing into her phone with a big grin on her face.

I knew it was Cole that occupied her from interacting with me. I wasn't stupid. Raleigh had yet to tell me, and I didn't press her. I wanted her to be in her little bubble with him. She was never this giddy and giggly about a guy, and I figured she must like him. I didn't want to be the one to rain all over her parade.

"If it isn't my favorite ladies." Without waiting for our response, Justin took a seat from another table without asking the couple if it was taken and joined Raleigh, and I. Justin's arrival was a welcoming one. At least there was someone to converse with now.

"How are we doing?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Fine, I guess. Not much excitement happening in my pathetic life," I answered before taking a sip of my tea.