Xo Novel
33
Needing to put some distance between them, Elena took a step backwards, “Everyone is waiting for us,” she told him, “Let’s go,”
Then she left him standing there and walked towards his car. Chandler noticed she’d also left her luggage for him and he grabbed it, gladly in fact, because just watching her walk away was worth it in his books. She might not have forgiven him, but they were a step closer to that if he played his cards right.
And God bless Lexi for her decision to make her ride in his car. One more point for his future sister in law.
———–
The silence in the car was deafening…. so quiet you could hear a pin drop if not for the soft purring from the car. It wasn’t an awkward silence either, more like they didn’t know how to begin to say what needed to be said. Elena sat facing the window with her arms wrapped around her body. Her legs remained stiff against each other, and she looked like she’d rather be anywhere else but there with him. Her short sundress looked even shorter now, revealing the soft, smooth skin of her laps and Chandler looked away, mentally letting his dick know that this wasn’t the right time.
Something had to be said, he thought. It’d be torture if they went the entire journey this way, so he cleared his throat and said, “So Elena, how have you been…,” then he thought better of his question and added, “I mean… How has work been?”
Elena turned away from the window to look at him and his handsome face. He was wearing a simple black, short sleeved shirt, showing off hot muscles and tatted skin. Bad idea… She looked away again, “So far it’s been going fine,” she replied, “I’ve been getting more customers everyday and Sarah even called to place an order for her husband’s birthday,”Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.
Chandler nodded, “That sounds great. Lexi told me you’ll be handing the wedding cake too.”
“Yeah I am,” Elena replied, and smiled excitedly.
“So how’s that going to work?”
“What?”
He looked around, “Is there another car bringing the cake?,”
Elena smiled this time, much to his satisfaction, “Of course not. I’ll do that when we arrive. We’ll be shopping for everything I’ll need,”
“Sounds like you’ll be pretty busy.”
Elena tried to ignore the disappointment she thought she heard in his voice. She had to stop imagining things, “Yeah, but I’ll still have to have some fun.” She hesitated, then added, “I’d like to see the place you grew up in too. When was the last time you went home? Are you excited about seeing your parents?”
Chandler responded by exhaling loudly and dragging a hand across his face.
“I’m guessing the answer is no then,” said Elena.
“Yeah I’m not excited about it,” Chandler finally agreed, “And it’s been years since I went home…. Look, Elena, my family is… Not your regular kind of family… At least from my perspective. My dad and I aren’t really close and my step mother and I didn’t really get along,”
Elena turned to look at him, “Step mother?” she repeated, “I didn’t know….”
Chandler avoided her gaze. He didn’t like the way she was looking at him now. It looked somewhat like pity and that was not the emotion he wanted her to feel for him, so he shrugged like it meant nothing, “I lost my mom when I was very young and my dad remarried not too long after my mother passed away. She had Elijah and I guess I resented them for the way they treated him. They…Compared us… Not minding the fact that we’re different people…It wasn’t easy without my mom and it affected our relationship for a while,”
“Oh” she said, finally realizing why he and Elijah hadn’t been on speaking terms when they were in school. She’d been curious then, but her crush on Elijah then had made it very hard for her to speak to him about it and she’d dreaded asking Emily much about Elijah either because she’d been worried that her sister would see through her and find out about her crush on her best friend.
“I don’t really like to talk about my family and I’m sure you can see why. Can we talk about something else, please?”
Elena nodded. She thought about what else they could talk about, then she said, “Who was she?” The question was out of her mouth before she even realized it was still bothering her.
That sparked something behind his eyes. “Who?”
“The lady you kissed at the hotel,”
Chandler cocked his head. There was silence for a moment, then he answered. “Her name’s Jennifer. We worked together like two years ago and we have kept in touch since then. She never made a pass at me or in any way gave me the impression that she wanted something between us until that night,”
Elena remained quiet. Yeah, she’d asked him the question, but somehow the reminder of that night seemed to hurt her all over again,
“I’d been drinking Elena,” Chandler continued, “I was mad at myself because I’d ruined our night, so I took a couple drinks at the bar. I know that’s not an excuse, but you should know that I never kissed or wanted to kiss her. She kissed me and you just happened to see it. I’m sorry that I hurt you Elena. I really am,”
Elena remained silent. She’d returned her gaze to the window and Chandler was beginning to think that they’d returned to that awkward phase when she said, “I came down to look for you because I wanted to tell you that I was sorry for overreacting about what Matt had told me. I was coming over to apologize… because I realized what you said in the room before you left…” She swallowed hard, as if bracing herself for what she was about to say. Her voice got lower and then it was almost a whisper. “… You were right… about me having feelings for you. I still do…”
Chandler’s grip tightened on the steering wheel at her admission. He’d known she felt something, but after he’d screwed up so bad, he’d been worried that she’d feel differently about him. Her words made him happy, and if he wasn’t driving, he’d have thrown caution to the wind and hugged her tightly. Maybe even kiss her…. If she’d let him.