Page 10 of Snowed In with My Ex
She hurried straight to her car. As quickly as she appeared, she disappeared, leaving me to stare at the spot where her car had been.
I’d only been able to see her for a second, but it had been worth waiting around for the last hour and a half.
I was tempted to follow her.
Again.
I’d been doing this shit since she had broken up with me. Waited outside her home, just down the street, far enough for her not to notice me. Sometimes, I followed her to work or to the gym she liked to hit up on her days off. Fuck, once I’d followed her all the way to the mountains when she had taken Piper to some craft fair thing.
Allie’s little blue car disappeared, and I sighed. Before I could decide what to do, a knock sounded at my window, and I almost jumped out of my skin. Another knock sounded, and I winced when I realized who was standing there.
“Busted,” I mumbled to myself. Honestly, I had no idea how the fuck no one had caught me before this. I pressed the button to lower the passenger side window and looked into bright blue eyes.
“I thought that was you,” the redhead with the bright blue eyes said with a scowl so deep it created lines at her forehead.Fair.I deserved more than ugly looks. “Mind if I get in?” My brow rose.
“No,” I answered politely, pressing the unlock button. Before I could change my mind, the tiny pixie opened the door and slipped in.
“Wow! This is nice!” She whistled, looking around the cab of the rented oversized SUV. “Is this one of those cars that has seat warmers? I’ve never been in one of those.” I blinked, wondering what the hell she was up to. I had learned during the six months of seeing Allie that Piper was quirky.
“Yeah.” I pressed the button, and she nodded.
“Nice!” She glanced over at me, and our eyes connected. The amused look on her face disappeared, and a no-nonsense expression painted her delicate features. “What are you doing?”
“What do you?—“
“And don’t give me the wholeyou were in the neighborhoodcrap. You’ve been camping out here every morning since you two broke up.”
“How did you know that?” I asked, not bothering to deny it.
“I wasn’t sure, but you just confirmed it.” She shrugged. “I noticed you the day after Thanksgiving. Honestly, dude, I’m a little disappointed. A whole month, and you didn’t make a move? Not one text?” She rolled her eyes.
“Pipe—“
“Look, I don’t know what’s going on with you or why you started icing Allie out when it’s obvious you love her.”
“I do.” I nodded. There was no way I’d deny that. I had fallen in love with Allie with one damn look. Love at first sight had always sounded like a fucking myth, but, Jesus, that was exactly how it had felt when I met her.
“So?” Her head tilted. “What’s this? Just sitting around waiting for what? For her to notice you’re here? For a neighbor to call the cops on you?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I just—” How the fuck could I explain it to her? “I love her, Piper. I do.” I swallowed. “And because of that, I needed to give her space?—“
“Well,” she interrupted, “I know you’re older, but you’re obviously not wiser.” Piper had no problem with calling a spade a spade. “Look, I shouldn’t tell you any of this, but I like you. I like you for her. She was happy. Happier than I have ever seen her, and we met in college! Undergrad!” She exhaled. Her brows bunched together before she tightened the ponytail of red bouncy curls on top of her head. “I thought you were it for her.”
“I am it for her,” I growled. There would be no way I would let anyone else have her.She is mine.I just wanted to make sure I didn’t fuck up the chances for her own dreams to come true before I did something crazy like knock her up.
“Knock her up?” Piper’s eyes widened, making me realize I’d said the words out loud. “Oh my god!” she gasped
“Piper, it’s not what?—“
“Youlove, love her! You wanna keep her forever kind of love!” she guessed, and I blinked. “That’s why you started to act all weird? You want babies and strollers with her?”
“Yes.” The anguish I felt was crystal clear in my voice. Piper blinked. Confusion marred her delicate features.
“I don’t get it. Those are good things to want,” she pointed out with a frown on her face. “I don’t understand.”
“She has goals, Piper. She has dreams of opening her own firm and?—“
“And you thought giving her a family, giving her a happy ever after, would what? End those dreams?” she guessed, but not without looking at me like I was the world’s biggest idiot.