Page 17 of Noticing Natalie
“Sorry. Um. You look…” his eyes dipped to my mouth, and he moved closer to me. As if in a trance, he reached his hand out to cradle my cheek. He leaned toward me. My eyes widened. Was he going to kiss me?
“Hey, babe, I’m back.” A pretty blonde with huge boobs, an ass to match, and a tiny waist bounded over and threw her arm around his shoulders. She cocked an eyebrow as she stared a little aggressively at me. She had big hair, red lips, tight clothes, heels, and everything else Tim always went for.
“Oh. Hey.” He barely looked at her. “Nat, this is Tanya…”
She slapped his chest in a flirty way. “It’s Tawny, silly,” she giggled. Her hand, with its long, red nails, remained on his chest.
I glanced at my nails. They were short and light pink, the way I’d come to like them.
“Yeah, sorry,” Tim said, still looking at me. “Anyway, we hung out last night, and she kept me company on the drive to the airport. I promised to drop her in Halliwell later.”
I stared at him, not even trying to hide my disappointment. I’d been away from him for a year and now I was going to have to sit in the back seat and listen to whatever drivel this woman had to say? I wouldn’t get to tell him about all the amazing things I’d seen and done. Why did he do that? Did he not want to talk to me?
I held his gaze for a moment, knowing now that no matter how I changed, inside or out, I would never be the type of woman Tim wanted. Never.
It was time for me to move on. Just like I’d thought.
“Nice to meet you,” I said with as genuine a smile as I could muster.
“Yeah. You, too,” she was chewing gum with an open mouth. “So… what are you? Like, his cousin?”
“No, babe. Natalie is special…” he started.
I cut him off. “I’m just his friend. That’s all.”
His eyes held mine for a minute longer, his brow slightly furrowed. Then I turned, picked up my bags, and started walking. “Where did you park?” I called over my shoulder as I made my way through the crowds of people in the world’s busiest airport.
He hurried after me and grabbed my bags. “Let me carry these, Nat.”
“Thanks,” I gave him a small smile.
The three of us got in his car, and I had to listen to Tawny’s mindless chatter all the way home to Indigo Falls. Tim kept looking at me in the rearview mirror, trying to meet my eyes, but I looked out the window.
He pulled into my driveway and carried my bags to the door for me.
“Nat… I’m sorry I brought her. I didn’t think about what it would be like on the ride home.”
I looked at him. Really held his eyes and studied his face. “We’ve been apart for a year, Tim. A year. And you couldn’t be without some bimbo blonde long enough to pick up your best friend from the airport?” I shook my head. “I expected better. I had all these amazing things to tell you, but instead we got to listen to Tawny tells us about her clogging lessons. That sucks.”
His face was flushed. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t think…”
My eyes narrowed. “Sure, you did. There’s no way it didn’t cross your mind that I might feel like an unwanted third wheel in that situation.” I jerked my thumb to where she sat blowing bubbles in his car.
“Tim,” Tawny called from his car. She made his name into two syllables and sounded very impatient. “Are you coming?”
I gave him a tight smile. “Looks like you need to go do what it is you always do,” I said. “Guess we might get to talk another time.”
“Nat, I…”
I walked inside and closed the door pretty much in his face.
I leaned against the door and closed my eyes. It was time I faced the truth. Tim was never going to notice me. Not in the way I wanted him to. No matter how much I had changed, I knew something now.
I had returned back to Indigo Falls a different person.
But nothing had changed at all.
CHAPTER SIX
