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But if I didn’t talk to him about it, I would always wonder what might have been.
Edith grabbed my hand and squeezed. “Think on it, honey. This has the potential to change your entire life.”
Never had I felt a pressure so strong resting on my chest. And I had a feeling that over the next few weeks, my mind would only be more clouded with feelings for Andrew. Life was about to get very difficult.
17
DASH
“Is this it?”I asked as we pulled up to the house. It was a little smaller than her last house, but still looked pretty decent on the outside.
Andrew cocked his head at the house, grimacing as he looked back down at the address. “This can’t be right.”
“Why not?”
“Because I know this place, and unless they did some serious renovations, this place is a disaster on the inside.”
“Well, we’d better check it out.”
I shoved the door open and stepped out, walking around to the back of the truck I borrowed from Brock. Andrew and I both grabbed bags and headed toward the house. I’d decided sometime during the last few hours that Andrew wasn’t actually that bad, even though I still considered him a competitor. When he admitted he had thought of asking Laura out, I became irrationally angry. Not that he wanted her, but that he had her first. They had all these amazing memories together, and if there was a competition for who she would choose, it would undoubtedly be him.
Andrew pushed the door open and we both immediately grimaced at the state of the place.
“What was Edith thinking?” he asked, staring around the run-down house. “This place is a dump.”
“It looked decent from the outside. I don’t get it.”
We both walked further in, making sure to sidestep the rotting floorboards.
“Her old house would be just as safe,” I scowled. “At least you knew where you were going to fall through the floor.”
“Edith doesn’t really expect her to stay here, does she?”
I shook my head in confusion. She said she was going to take care of it, but with the state of this place, Laura would end up back at Andrew’s house.
“I guess she’ll be staying with you for the foreseeable future.”
“Oh, no,” Andrew laughed, shaking his head. “She can’t stay with me indefinitely.”
“Why not? You told her she could stay with you. Now you’re changing your mind?”
“I have a woman. I met her at the airport, and there’s no way in hell she’d be okay with me allowing another woman to stay at my house.”
That took me by surprise. “You have a woman? But I thought you had a thing for Laura?”
He didn’t look at me as his gaze swept over the house. “Some things aren’t meant to be.”
“Wait, does that mean you’re giving up on her?”
“I never had her,” he said, finally turning to me. “She’s only ever thought of me as a brother.”
“But you didn’t actually talk to her about it.”
What the hell was I doing? Andrew was giving up on Laura, which could open the door for me to walk through and take her, but I was encouraging him instead.
He rubbed the back of his neck, looking quite unsure about the whole thing. “I don’t know. It could ruin everything. Once you put something like that out there, it changes the relationship. I mean, she’s been my best friend since we were kids.”
I nodded in understanding. He was in a tough spot.