"You like her," he said looking in front of him.
"She was all right," I tried to say, flippantly.
"If she was all right, then what happened?"
"Nothing happened."
"Something happened. Otherwise, you'd still be hanging out with her. I know you're only here because you two aren’t talking anymore," he said.
"It's not like that," I started, defensively.
"Nate, it's not a big deal. I know how it goes. What happened between you two?"
"I couldn't do it to her anymore. When the summer ends, I'm going back to LA. She's staying here."
"I think she knows that, brother."
"It's not right. I can't make her believe this can be a real thing and then just up and leave at the end of August."
"You didn't want to hurt her?"
"Yeah. I mean, it's shitty leading her on like that. It's better if she doesn't have any expectations. Then, I can't disappoint her."
"I can see why you did it, but, tell me something, are you happier that you did?" he asked.
"What?" I frowned.
"Are you happy with that decision you made to cut her off?"
"No. I liked hanging out with her. She's a great girl."
"Do you think she's happy about it?"
"Definitely not. I think she hates me for what I said to her."
"Love's a scary thing, but you can’t be scared of it," he said.
"Whoa, who's talking about love?" I asked.
"I'm just saying," he said. "Love makes its own decisions. It's a mystery, it can take you anywhere. Make you do anything."
"I'm not in love with Abby."
"I never said you were," he said, looking over at me.
"So what's your point?" I asked, angrier than I wanted to sound.
"My point is you made that decision for a reason, but if it isn't making you happy, then maybe it's not a good enough one." I thought about it. Love? He had to slow the hell down, we weren't doing all of that. We had slept together a few times. We weren't in love.
"By the way, if you're willing to torture yourself and her because you're afraid to hurt her, you are in love," he said.
"You're single. I'm supposed to take your advice why?" I asked. He laughed.
"I'm not single because I want to be. I don't have a choice. You don't have to be single. You made that choice." I thought about what he had said the entire way back to the resort after the hike. Maybe he was onto something.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Abby