Page 36 of It Happened Back Then (Nilsson Family #3)
T he moon’s high and bright when I hear the knock on the window.
I know it’s her. I’m sitting on the edge of the bed, phone clenched so tight in my fist the screen might crack. I don’t even turn my head. Just stand up, walk over, and open the damn window.
I return to where I was, seated on the bed, now with my hands braced on my knees, jaw clenched. She sits in the small chair across from me like she’s the one who's been waiting.
“Where have you been?” I ask. I’m surprised at my tone, there’s no emotion. I’m just so tired.
She opens her mouth. “I’ve be?—”
“I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. Your sisters won’t answer. Lief won’t talk to me.” With each word my voice rises, and then that emotion I thought I lost breaks through. “ You disappeared, Blossom. You disappeared . And you think showing up at my window erases that?”
“I had things I had to work through, and the shower, the wedd?—”
“Excuses,” I snap. “Just fucking excuses.” I let out a laugh, but it’s hollow. “You know Savannah drove hours to find me. You’re ten minutes away and I couldn’t even get a text .”
“Benn—”
“No. You don’t get to Bennett me right now.” I stand, because if I don’t move, I might break. “You dangle this thing between us like a carrot. And every time I get close, you yank it back. You didn't ever give it a chance to become what it should be, what we’ve always known it to be.”
My voice rises. The control I’ve fought to keep slips with every word.
“I’ve told you what I want. I’ve shown up, time and time again. We made a fucking pact , Blossom. Yeah, we were kids, but it meant something to me. Because my word means something . And you’ve known that since the beginning.”
She fires back, angry now. “You also told me you broke up with Savannah. And then she shows up, moves into our fucking town, finds me at the florist, at my shop! She says all this shit about me keeping you stuck here, like I’m the one holding you back.”
“What are you talking about?” My stomach rolls and my dad mentioning she came by his house plays in my mind again.
“She had plenty to say about how you should be anywhere but here in Bluemoon. How she’d support your career anywhere in the world, and how I’m just some small-town nobody.”
My rage builds, one, because Savannah thinks she has right to talk, but two? Because Blossom believed her .
I scoff. “ That’s why you ghosted me? Because of her ? Jesus, Blossom. Give me a fucking break. You know better than that.”
“I saw her comment on your post. ‘So happy we’re back together.’ What was I supposed to think?”
“We’re together!” I shout, pointing between us. “You and me!”
“Are we?” she fires back. “Because she’s always at the restaurant. She’s always around you. If you won’t tell her to leave, where does that leave me?”
“It leaves you as my girlfriend. Fuck, my wife , if you’d say yes and just stop running.”
“Then stop being in limbo with her! Make a decision!”
I laugh in disbelief. “Make a decision? I’ve been back and forth with you for a goddamn decade! You don’t think I hated dating other people? Watching you date other people? I did what you asked. I gave you space. I watched you pretend this thing between us didn’t exist.”
Her silence speaks volumes, but I won't let up. I see her spiraling but I’m not backing down. This is going to end tonight.
“I’m telling you right now. I’m done,” I say, trying to keep my voice low and level, but I’m shaking. “I’ll quit my job, leave this town, go somewhere no one knows your name. Because I can’t keep walking on eggshells waiting for you to figure out if I’m enough.”
Her eyes are wide. She wants to say something. I can see it. But she’s frozen, and that hurts more than anything else in the world.
“Change my mind, Blossom. For the last time. You’ve always had that power. Always. You’d show up with those ridiculous boots or smelling like spring rain or saying my name in that voice, and I’d give in. Every fucking time. I thought we were past that. But here I am again. Stupid and hoping.”
I swallow hard and look right at her. “Change my mind or let me go.”
She opens her mouth, lips trembling as she says, “I’m pregnant.” Her voice cracks, and it feels like she just punched me. “Does that change your mind?”