Luckily for me, Jade stepped out of the house. She stopped and looked at my truck for a moment before she walked down the porch steps and headed to the car.
Outwardly, I was probably the picture of cool, calm, and collected, but inwardly, I was a mess. She opened the door and settled into the passenger seat. When she was safely fastened in, she finally spoke, but she didn’t meet my gaze.
She cleared her throat. “Ethan texted me and said that he wanted me to come down to his practice. He said he had already told you to give me a ride or whatever.”
I nodded. “Yeah, he did.”
“Cool.” She let out a shaky breath “So let’s go.”
This was incredibly awkward, and I hated it, but I didn’t say anything. I started the car and peeled out of the driveway.
We rode the first ten minutes in complete silence. The music the radio served as background music. Jade hadn’t looked my way since she had entered the car.
We stopped at the traffic light that was just before we entered the town center. A song I hadn’t heard in ages started playing. My heart thudded heavily in my chest as the realization hit me that this had been our song; the song we had promised each other would be our wedding song. It wasPerfectby Ed Sheeran. I saw Jade stiffen when she realized what song was playing.
If I changed the song, she would think it bothered me, and I didn’t want her to know that I was the slightest bit affected by our past. And I wasn’t. I had moved on, and I had come to terms with my life.
I remembered the first night we had danced to this song. It was the first time I ever told her I loved her. It was at my senior prom. She was still a sophomore at the time. I remembered holding her in my arms and thinking that I was holding my entire world.
She had been everything I didn’t know I had been searching for. She made the world make sense, and she brought color where I had seen black and white. I knew I was a goner from our very first kiss, but I fell into it headfirst with both eyes wide open.
Then she shattered it all. I shook off the negative feelings before they had a chance to overtake my body and sour my mood. Truthfully, being in the car with Jade had already soured my mood. This is why I knew I needed to stay away from her. She brought too much complication into my life.
When the song finally came to an end, I relaxed and concentrated on getting to my desired destination. We pulled up to where Ethan’s practice was located. He had converted the quaint little property his mom had previously owned into an efficient and modern practice.
Ethan was one of two doctors that currently resided in Riverroad. The other was Dr. Vister, and he was nearing retirement. Ethan was the new kid on the block who everyone had needed.
Jade was about to jump out and create the needed distance between us, but for some reason, I decided to open my mouth at that moment.
“Thanks for staying,” I started. “Ethan really needs you right now.”
She shrugged. “Well, I didn’t have much of a choice in the matter, seeing as you took my handbag which has all my cards in it.”
I reached behind my seat where I had thrown the bag before she entered the car. I placed it into her lap.
“You shouldn’t stay because I took your stuff. Me taking it was just a motivator because we both know, in this day and age, you don’t need your physical cards to buy plane tickets if they are already loaded in your phone. You stayed because you knew it was the right thing to do. You stayed because Ethan is your brother and, despite everything, I think a part of you still loves Monica, and you wanted to stay for her, too.”
She looked a bit uneasy. “I think you are reading too much into this, Grayson. But since we are poking and prodding here: How long have you and Astrid been a thing?”
I knew this would come up eventually after what happened at Pop Pop’s. I could hear the slight tone in her voice that told me she was displeased about the whole thing, and I loved that fact. So, I couldn’t help but irk her more.
“Almost four years now.”
Her eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets before she quickly schooled her features. She was trying to act unaffected, but I knew that, when it came to Astrid, Jade was as sour as lemons about it.
“Well, that’s quite the achievement. Are you happy?”
“That doesn’t concern you.”
She looked at me, confused. “I was only asking a question, Grayson. No need to snap at me unnecessarily. I genuinely want you to be happy.”
I scoffed. “That’s rich coming from you.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, “Grayson, I’m trying to be civil with you. I know our past was a bit turbulent but—”
“Whose fault was that, Jade?”
“I needed to do what was best for me at the time, Grayson. A lot was going on, and I had so much in my head at the time. I needed to think. You can’t hate me for choosing me.”