“What do you mean?”
“At first, I tossed them into the trash. Then I thought, what have these flowers done? They don’t deserve to be wasted. So now I go out onto the street, pick someone who looks like they might need a bit of cheering up, and give them to a random stranger.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “And what sort of reaction is that met with?”
Ollie chuckles. “Surprisingly good, actually. People come around when they see I’m not a loon.”
“So, that’d eat up, what, ten, fifteen minutes?”
He chuckles. “Smart-ass.”
“And has it changed anything for you?”
“Expensive flowers can’t make up for what he did. But…”
“What?”
A sharp exhale. “I still love him.”
“That doesn’t stop overnight,” I say.
I’m learning that lesson myself.
Despite doing everything I can to minimize contact with Jackson these past few weeks, my feelings for him have remained stubbornly the same.
I’ve hated creating distance between us, but I had to do it. Honesty and trust are nonnegotiables for me. They should be for everyone, really. It’s the easiest way to show respect for someone you care about.
And I know that despite the Great Wall of Jackson set up around his heart, hedoeshave feelings for me. So why the fuck won’t he open up and tell me what’s going on? I realize I haven’t made it easy for him to reach me, but he hasn’t even tried.
“So when do my emotions catch up to reality?” Ollie asks, his voice laced with pain and confusion.
“You’re asking the wrong guy about that. My feelings for Jackson and the reality of Jackson are two completely separate train tracks— Holy shit!”
“What is it?”
“I see Jackson.”
“You…materialized him out of thin air?”
“No. He’s across the street. Clancy is with him. They’re leaving a doctor’s clinic.”
“Maybe he’s got sleep apnea, too?”
“It’s a different doctor to mine.”
“Wait, I thought you were driving?”
“I’m in my car, but I haven’t left yet.”
“Can they see you?”
“No.” Clancy is leading Jackson down a ramp. He parked his Jeep right out front; I’m further down the block on the opposite side of the street. “Jackson requested time off ages back. Told me he had a dentist appointment. This doesn’t make any sense. Why would he come all this way for a dental appointment when there’s a perfectly good dentist in Silverstone? And why would he need his grandfather for that?”
Ollie recognizes they’re rhetorical questions and doesn’t answer them. “What are they doing now?”
“Getting into Clancy’s car.”
“Who’s driving?”
