“That he understood where I was coming from, and he respected my wishes.”
“Did you show him that same courtesy?”
“What?”
“Did you let him know that you understood where he was coming from?” she replied. “Compromise is a two-way street, and you did a very poor job in that department. Sounds like you decided that what you wanted was the only thing that mattered. Knowing Don, he was probably open to compromise.”
I rolled my eyes.
I couldn’t pretend like Izzy wasn’t right. Don was always open to compromise. But when it came to this subject, I wasn’t interested.
“Maybe he was, but—”
“Stop right there. You’re about to give me some bullshit, and I’m not trying to hear it. You need to be open in this conversation. Believe me, I get it. You don’t see a reason for it, and that’s fine. But you shouldn’t force your feelings on him and think that he should agree. Instead, you should be a little more understanding and give things time. You never know how you might feel a few months from now.”
I sighed.
I didn’t want to agree, but it was kind of hard not to. I had no idea what might happen in the future. Especially, with Don.
“Maybe you’re right,” I replied.
“Of course, I am.”
“Whatever, bye.”
“Oh, so now you want to kick me off the phone. I see how it is.”
“Mmhmm, love you too.”
“Yeah, love you too, bye.”
Laughing, we both ended the call.
I dropped my head back against the couch, allowing myself a moment to ponder over what Izzy said. The last thing I wanted to do was make it seem like I didn’t care about Don’s feelings. He deserved better than that.
Standing up from the couch, I took another glance at my cell and recognized that I had a message from my aunt.
Seeing as I’d been so bothered over the last few hours, it wasn’t much of a surprise that I had missed her call. But like always, instead of just sending me a text to tell me what she wanted, she left a voicemail.
Rolling my eyes, I hit play on the message.
“Hi, darling. This is Aunt Patricia. I’m not sure why you didn’t answer my call, but we’ll discuss that at a later time. Anywho, I don’t know if Kendra told you yet, but I’m having a barbecue at the house Saturday. Just a little something to make up for not being able to host a brunch these last couple of months. I’ve been so busy. Anyway, You can bring some chips since I know you’re not going to cook anything. Oh, and maybe some napkins. We could never have too many of those. Okay, love you, sweetheart. Talk to you soon.”
“Great,” I whispered. “Another damn family gathering.”
This was one of the reasons I truly hated the summer. If my aunt could find any reason to have food and people at her house, she would. Thankfully, fall is on its way.
Locking the screen on my cell, I turned off the TV and made my way into the bedroom. Although my aunt had held my attention for a couple of minutes, my brain was still stuck on Don. Maybehecould sleep like everything was okay between us…I couldn’t.
When I entered the room, I just stared at him for a moment.
He slept comfortably on his back with his hands behind his head. Well…Ithoughthe was sleep.
Slowly, his eyes opened, and he said, “Come here.”
I took a hard swallow and tugged on the oversized t-shirt that barely covered my thighs.
“Nova…come here,” he repeated.
