Now it was time to share the news with Heather and Patty. I mean, they both knew we had gone on dates, but everything felt different now. It felt real. I was happy, and a part of me was still a little scared. But I promised myself that I would be open and honest with Miles, and he promised the same. That was really all we could ask of one another.
After our sit-down meeting with our parents, I made my way back to my house. It had been hard leaving Miles. Harder than I thought it would be, to be honest. But I needed to take care of Whiskey and fill the girls in on the last twenty-four hours.
I’d sent a text to Heather and Patty, and we met at one of our favorite wine bars in Kerrville.
I didn’t wait long after they had showed up before I spilled the beans. Heather and Patty stared with shocked looks on their faces. I adjusted in the chair and tilted my head as I looked at them.
“No one is going to say anything? Are you really that surprised?” I asked.
Heather cleared her throat. “I, for one, am trying to figure out why no one believes I’m able to predict the future. I called this.”
“Here we go again,” Patty said with a roll of her eyes. “You said you saw Kynslee standing at an altar, and she was looking at Miles. Everyone in Hunt saw that same vision at one point in time or another, Heather.”
Heather smirked. “I disagree. Everyone thought they were just friends who hooked up now and then. After Miles left her heartbroken and pushed her into Jack’s arms, no one thought they would get together. They’d be that sad story of two high school loves who never admitted their true feelings for one another and lived to be old with regret and overwhelming sadness in their hearts.”
My eyes grew wide as I looked at Heather. “Boy, you’ve really had a lot of time to think about that scenario, haven’t you?”
Patty huffed. “Please, it isn’t like no one knew they would end up together. I mean, it was pretty damn clear they had a thing for each other. Well, at least it was painfully clear on Kynslee’s side.”
I snarled. “Hey, why was it painfully clear on my side!”
The two of them broke into laughter. I set my jaw and glared at them.
“Okay, okay,” Patty said, holding up her hands. “Kynslee, come on and admit it. Even when you were with Jack we knew you weren’t really with Jack.” She used air quotes around the word with.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means you were dating him, but you never saw a future with the guy. Did you?” Patty asked.
“Well, no, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t care about him. I wouldn’t have dated him for as long as I did if I didn’t have feelings for him.”
“And he was a good buffer until Miles came home. But when you realized Miles wasn’t in a hurry to get home, you panicked and dumped Jack.”
I scoffed. “I did not panic, thank you very much. I simply didn’t love Jack enough to marry him, and he was ready for that step. I cared about Jack, obviously, but not in a ‘let’s get married and have kids’ kind of way.”
“So you waited for Miles,” Heather added.
“I didn’t wait for him.”
They both raised their brows.
“I didn’t wait for him!” I insisted, knowing it was a lie. No matter how many times I tried to deny it, I had waited for Miles. I had longed for the phone calls, the brief conversations. Even if most of them were fewer than ten minutes, Miles had still taken the time to call me, and sue me if I had loved those calls. The idea that the next time he came home, it would be for good. I also grew angrier with him as the years went by, but that was in the past.
Patty waved her hands about in the air. “None of that matters. All that matters now is the two of you told each other how you feel, and you’re dating! How do you feel about that? I mean, I know you’ve gone out a few times, but those dates were because you demanded them, right?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t demand them.”
They both raised their brows again.
“Fine, I sort of demanded them.”
They both chuckled and took a sip of their red wine.
“Anywho, what was it like being with him again? Just as good as you remembered?” Heather asked, a dreamy look in her eyes.
I chewed on my lip, then sighed. “It was amazing. I mean, I haven’t been with many men, but Miles has always been different. There has always been a connection between us.”
“I’m a firm believer it’s because he was your first,” Patty said as Heather nodded in agreement.