This is how you’re justifying it?
Yes.It was.Because the day Benjamin Tucker broke up with her, was the last she ever saw of him.Until her wedding day.As soon as he’d told her he’d changed his mind about moving to Denver with her, she’d packed up her things and got the hell out of Woodvalley Pines and never looked back.
“And?”Even the most patient person she knew was looking more and more frustrated as creases started to furrow Lucy’s porcelain brow.
“And...what I’m trying to say is that I’m not sure I ever had thatclosurethat people talk about.‘Cause I never saw him again.And now...now it feels like I’m stuck in this weird-ass time warp where emotionally I’ve moved on but physically...physically I’m still there.Ten years ago.When I’m around him, I just can’t help it, my body just does its own thing.”
“Does its own thing?” Bethany didn’t miss the skepticism in her friend’s voice.
“Yes,” she replied, exasperated.“It goes rogue!It’s like—why aren’t we kissing?Why aren’t we touching?Let me hump your leg!I don’t know.”She let her eyes flutter closed.“He just brings out a side of me that I’ve not seen for a long time.”
And that was the scary truth.Who she was when she was with Doug was very different to who she was with Benny.All this time, she’d put the difference down to growth and maturity.But what she was starting to realize was it wasn’t that.Because who she was around her ex was exactly who she was when she was alone.Single.With her friends.
Just hornier.
She felt Lucy’s arms wrap around her and she gladly nestled in her hold.
“Maybe don’t hump his leg next time?”her friend softly teased.
“Right.”She chuckled.“Baby steps.”
***
“Did you hear me, Bethany?”
Bethany’s eyes snapped up, her focus going back to Dr.Brunswick’s flattened and wholly unimpressed lips.
“Um,” she coughed.“Yes, um,lifetime relationships, got it.”She pretended to scribble something in her notebook, hoping the older man’s gray eyes had moved onto another student in the small consultation room.
It felt surreal to be back at work.And not to mention humiliating.Her morning had consisted of endless congratulations followed shortly by her awkwardly explaining to every individual person how she didn’t actually end up getting married, after all.
Now here she was, at Goldacre Medical Clinic, zoning in and out during the lunchtime workshop.
“Exactly, as local physicians, we develop relationships with our patients over the course of a lifetime.”Dr.Brunswick continued.“Which is why nurturing these relationships early is essential.With that in mind, I’ll be assigning you each with a task designed to get you more involved with your local community.”
Bethany zoned back out after that.Her mind easily wandering back to the message she’d received last night, mere hours after their kiss.
Benny:We need to talk
How did he even get my number?
Also, why did he still have the same number, ten years later?
They most definitely didn’t need to talk.What they needed was to spend the remainder of her time in Woodvalley at least fifty yards apart at all times.Maybe even a hundred.
The only problem, of course, was that it was a small town, and her residency would keep her here another year.
You could get a place in Goldacre?
She could.Although she doubted it would make that much of a difference seeing as most Woodvalley residents frequented Goldacre to shop, eat and socialize.Woodvalley was great but it consisted of a couple of restaurants, one bar, a diner, a bakery, the Farm n’ Fresh and rather randomly, a large number of antique stores.
Unable to stop herself, she sighed.A little too loud.
“Am I boring you, Bethany?”
Shit.
The next few minutes were spent attempting to convince her mentor that he had mistaken boredom for silently processing his wise words.It didn’t go well.
