Page 130 of Bridesmaid Undercover
Did I miss Maple?
After she left for Peru, did I pine for her?
No, Hardy. You got on with your life and focused on work.
Does that mean that I’ve imagined a close, deep relationship that was, in reality, only surface level?Was I that blind?
“If it takes you a second, I think we know the answer,” she says.
“Maple—”
She squeezes my arm. “It’s okay, Hardy. You don’t need to apologize, you don’t need to say anything to appease my feelings. Tell me the truth. Why did you want to start things back up with me?”
I pull on the back of my neck, an uneasiness trickling down my spine. “I was ready for something more in my life and you were back in town.”
“I was convenient.”
“Fuck, Maple, when you say it like that, it makes me sound like an ass. You weren’t convenient. I wanted to see if something was still there between us.”
“Do you think there is?” she asks, looking genuinely curious.
I study her for a moment, those kind eyes, that familiar smile. We had fun together. There’s…familiarity. We have friends and history. But what about lust?
Love?
Do we laugh together about the weirdest and most random things?
Is she the first person I think of when I need some human interaction? And am I the first person she thinks of?
Do we buy each other cookies…matching mugs…matching shirts?
What about the deep-rooted connection Polly was talking about?
I think it could be there, if we were to try hard, if we were to dig it up and bring our lives back to college where we were…
What were we?
Boyfriend and girlfriend?
But that was just a title.
We were together.
We were in love, right?
Three years of dating has to account for something, right?
Anything?
But fuck, why does it feel off? Why dowefeel off? And is that why I haven’t sensed any attraction from Maple? I know when a woman is interested in me, but Maple hasn’t shown…anyinterest.
For a moment, I considered the idea that maybe it would take her time to warm up, but by now she should be warm, warm enough to feel something.
But I don’t…fuck, I’m not sure I feel anything.
Looking away, I shake my head. “I don’t think so.”
“Because you have feelings for someone else,” she says.
