“You and Henry?”
“And Gary and Lydia—”
“Oh, yeah, cool.” Trying to cover up my shock at hearing another woman’s name, words caught in my throat, and I coughed. Why should I be surprised? Four years was a long time to be single. For a man like Manning, who surely had women fawning over him, it was an eternity. What if he’d found someone he loved more than me? Someone more compatible, less complicated? Did I want that for him if it was what I needed to finally find a way forward without him?
With a heavy heart, I asked, “Is Lydia your . . .”
He raised his eyebrows. “Gary’s wife. You’ve met Lydia.”
“Oh.” I should’ve been relieved, but the thought of him with someone else had already lodged itself in my brain. In my heart. Another reminder of just how large Manning still stood on my horizon, blocking everything else out. I just nodded. “Right.”
“They were all at the house last night.”
“The house?” I asked.
He inhaled through his nose, squinting over my head. I got the feeling he was going to say he had somewhere to be . . . as if this, us, was no longer important to him. Maybe it wasn’t. Corbin had moved on. Why wouldn’t Manning, too? That’s what I’d been trying to do.
“I built a house,” he said finally.
Perfect. That was how it felt to hear him say that, as if it’d been his destiny all along. For Manning, no regular house would do. He needed to be the one to create it. As happy as it made me to hear that, a small part of me couldn’t help the regret seeping in—for all the things I’d missed, for the home I didn’t have, and the one I’d once wanted with him. “I’d like to see that one day,” I said.
“Yeah,” he said, nodding, and then he shook his head, as if he’d changed his mind. “Today. Come see it today.”
My answering laugh was nervous, and I worried he could read the tension in my body. I hated feeling stiff around him, one of the few people who expected nothing of me but for me to be myself. “Sure,” I said.
“Lake?” he said, rubbing his scruffy jaw. “I’m serious. Come by the house tonight.”
I should’ve known he wasn’t kidding. Manning was nothing if not serious. He was a man of few words, and he didn’t say what he didn’t mean. I was definitely curious about the house, but if anything, that was a reason not to see it. Even now, my wounds were still a little too open. “I don’t know if I can,” I said.
“Why not?”
Did I have to say the reason out loud? I couldn’t go see Manning’s house because it would kill me a little inside. Because he’d broken my heart. Because we had a past we couldn’t ignore. Now that I was moving myself on, fate chose to intervene by bringing us together on a replica of a New York street in the middle of Los Angeles. Well, wasn’t that just like fate to be too late? “Because I have somewhere to be,” I said.
“So go be there, and then come over for dinner. For all the times you fed me, let me return the favor.”
My breath hitched. We’d been hungry together, and we’d fed each other—at what point would we have our fill? When did I get to be whole again? “I really shouldn’t.”
“Why not? I need a real reason, Lake. We can eat late if—”
“I’m over you.”
Oh, God. I couldn’t believe I’d said that, to him of all people. And my voice hadn’t even wavered, although I realized I was fidgeting with my purse strap.
Slowly, he raised his eyebrows. “You are?”
“Yes.” That time, my voice did falter a little, so I cleared my throat.
He cocked his head, looking almost . . . amused? Maybe I shouldn’t have assumed there was anything to this but dinner. “How do you know if you haven’t seen me in years?” he asked.
“Because I had no choice.” I glanced at the ground, but forced myself to look him in the eye. “I’ve worked really hard to move on, Manning.”
“How?” Again, he sounded more interested than upset.
“I got rid of the box you gave me, and Birdy, too,” I said. It was only partially true—they were packed away in storage, but that was a definite step forward.
“Those are things,” he said.
“All right.” Since he asked, I told him. There was no point in pretending everything was fine, not with him. I released my purse strap, crossing my arms into myself. “I don’t look for Summer Triangle anymore, and if you want the truth, I could never really find it.”
“They’re just three regular stars, Lake, nothing much to see.” He patted the back of his shoulder. “If you need them, you can always find them here.”