Page 38 of Stay With Me

She stopped as her voice began to crack and she sniffled, causing him to whip his head around.

Oh shit. She’s crying. What do you do with a crying girl?

“Samantha—”

“He played me like a fiddle,”she sputtered, choking back sobs. “He knew I was a normal, good girl who wanted all the normal, good girl things so he acted like he wanted that too, right off the bat. And I fell for it like an idiot.”

“Samantha—”

“So that’s why I’m making you wait,” she sobbed. “You’re really wonderful Nick, and I’m sure you’re just as good as you seem to be, but I can’t take a chance like that again. It took ten weeks for the truth to come out, and you know, normally you go on like one date per week, right? So I decided ten dates would be long enough to see someone for who they really are. I’m sorry for kind of punishing you for someone else’s bad behavior, but … but if I had to deal with that type of heartbreak again, I don’t think I could handle it.”

She dropped her face into her hands and continued to sob so he reached across and rubbed her back.

He suddenly felt sick to his stomach. The last time he’d seen a woman cry like this was his mom right after his dad walked out of their lives for two months.

This was a horrible idea.

He almost turned the car around right then, but decided it would have been too obvious.

Instead, he decided that, for one weekend, he’d be normal. Just hang out with her like she was any other person, not try anything. And then he’d taper things off once they got back.

It had been kind of an experiment anyway. A different challenge. And he’d be okay with admitting failure and going back to his typical ways, keeping things essentially anonymous so he never had to deal with the repulsive complexities of relationships.

And while he knew his behavior was basically the opposite of decent, it was never his intention to hurt anyone, only to avoid an annoying commitment. And he certainly didn’t want the first person he’d unintentionally hurt to be someone who actually was decent and whom he’d grown to genuinely like.

Samantha was good, and—frankly—she was too good for him.

She abruptly lifted her head and sniffled as she gave him an exasperated look. “Ohno.I am so sorry.You didn’t need to hear all of that.”

He rubbed a thumb across her cheek, wiping a tear. “I did need to hear it. I’m sorry that happened to you.” He paused contemplatively as he looked back at the road. “Guys like that are pieces of shit.”

Guys like you.

She shook her head and laughed quietly. “I cry at the drop of a hat when I’m tired. It’s so embarrassing.”

“Don’t sweat it,” he said, still smiling, then put an arm around her shoulder. “Come here and use me as a pillow. It’s a long drive.”

She leaned her head against him. “You’re sweet. Thank you.”

He placed a kiss on top of her head and rubbed her back.

After a moment, he could tell she was sleeping and he went back to staring at the road pensively.

A horrible idea, indeed.

* * *

Four hundred miles later, Nick and Samantha were cutting up like a couple of overgrown teenagers who’d known each other for years. It was funny how being trapped in a car with a person for seven hours can cause you to get comfortable with each other really quick.

So Nick felt better. A little better.

Once he’d decided he couldn’t go through with his original plan, he relaxed. Just a bit.

The weird good slash bad feeling he’d had since Saturday night was far less intense. But it was still there.

Nevertheless, he was having a good time with Samantha. She felt like a friend. Kind of. He wondered if it was possible for him to stick her in the friend zone just so he could keep her around. Probably not. But he could certainly try.

In the meantime, he had the great outdoors to distract him from his internal conflict.