“You’re too good to me, Hayden,” she said.
He smiled at that and kissed the tip of her nose. “Well, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You know that, right?”
She bit her lip and then nodded. She didn’t feel like the best thing that had ever happened to anyone, but she couldn’t argue with him.
“So, what happened?”
Liz shrugged and glanced away. She couldn’t meet his eyes. “Calleigh.”
Hayden blew out his breath quickly. “What did she say?”
“I’d just forgotten that she worked here.”
“Lizzie,” he said, turning her face toward him, “what did she say?”
“She still wants you, Hayden.”
His eyebrows rose. “She said that?”
“Not directly, but she didn’t have to. She started talking to me about your relationship and saying that you just broke up because of the distance.”
“That’s not true!”
“I know,” she said conciliatorily. “She just . . . I don’t know. I worry that she’s going to try something with you . . .”
Hayden laughed and shook his head. “She can try, but she’s not getting anywhere. Not with me. That’s for sure.”
“I know that. I do. She just gets under my skin. It’s like this weird girl competition challenge thing,” Liz said with a shrug.
“Well, I got the job and I’ll be working here. But it’s you I’ll be thinking about every day. It’s you I’m going to be traveling back to Chapel Hill to see. It’s you who makes working this hard worth it.” His lips found hers once more. “Just you.”
She smiled and leaned into the kiss. She wanted to believe him. She did believe him. If he wanted to be with Calleigh, he could. Calleigh was just trying to get to her.
“I was going to do this over dinner,” Hayden said softly, reaching into his coat pocket.
“Do what?” she asked, eyeing him cautiously.
He extracted a small black pouch from his pocket and handed it to her. “Happy birthday, gorgeous.”
Liz tilted her head to the side and eyed him curiously. What the hell had he gotten her? “You didn’t have to get me anything.”
“I wanted to.”
She took the pouch and weighed it in her hand. It was really light. It didn’t actually feel like there was anything in it.
She pulled open the small pouch and tipped it upside down into her cupped hand. A small clear packet dropped out. Liz just stared at what rested inside with a numb realization settling over her.
Charms.
Four tiny charms. A snowflake, tennis racket, the letter L, and a diamond.
She could determine the meaning behind each charm clearly. The snowflake for the first time they had been together during their snow day. The tennis racket and L were all too obvious. And then a diamond for her April birthstone.
“I didn’t get the locket part, because I knew you already had one. You used to wear it all the time. I thought you would start wearing it again if you had new charms,” he said with a big cheesy smile. “It looked good on you.”
She swallowed. Shit. No. This was . . . she couldn’t even . . . she didn’t know what to do. This was too much. Too soon. Brady. No, she didn’t want to think about him, but of course she couldn’t stop. She couldn’t wear Hayden’s charms. He was so thoughtful, but no.
Liz cleared her throat and tried to remember what she was supposed to say when she received gifts. “Thank you,” she managed to get out.
“Lizzie,” he whispered, staring into her unfocused eyes, “I love you.”
Her mind froze on those three words. The three words she had wanted Brady to say to her so badly. The three words that she had told Brady that she knew about in the car a couple weeks ago. Words she had spoken to Brady.
But Hayden?
Clay’s words rang in her ear from the art gallery. But you don’t love him. It hurt to think about. Brady. Clay. Hayden. They all clouded in her vision and she had to remember to speak . . . to say anything in that moment. She just couldn’t say what Hayden wanted to hear.
“I know,” she whispered back.
Chapter 12
TWENTY-FIRST
Liz placed another bobby pin in her uncooperative honey-blond hair. She had been putting her hair up and pulling it down for the last thirty minutes, trying to make it look good enough to go out for her twenty-first birthday. Victoria had told her that a ton of people were meeting them. Liz was already tipsy from the Jell-O shots Victoria had made to pregame with, and she was kind of worried about her liver making it through the night.
The weekend with Hayden had gone by so fast, despite the mess-ups. It was as if every time he did something good and cute and wonderful . . . it reminded her of Brady. And then there was Calleigh. Still, Hayden had tried to end their time in Charlotte as best he could. He had taken them to a little Italian restaurant called Villa Antonio’s that had spectacular food and a warm, inviting atmosphere. Then they had retreated back to the hotel for another night of fun.
What Liz couldn’t understand was how Hayden wasn’t upset at all that she hadn’t told him that she loved him. She just couldn’t seem to get the words out. And as with everything else, he hadn’t pressured her or made her feel bad. He had just smiled and kissed her.
She wondered how long that would be good enough.
With Hayden she just didn’t know. He always surprised her with the depth of his understanding.
At least for now he wasn’t pushing her. In fact, he was playing the designated driver for her and Victoria for the night. He had been planning to go out with them, but Victoria had put her foot down.
“You stole her all weekend!” Victoria said, shaking her head. “I didn’t even get a shot with her at midnight.”
Hayden shrugged and kissed Liz’s forehead. “She’s my girlfriend. I can’t help that I want to spoil her.”
“Spoil her. Steal her. Same thing,” Victoria said. “I’m going to spoil her tonight. And by spoil her . . . I mean steal her.”
Hayden raised his eyebrows. “You’re saying I can’t be with my girlfriend on her birthday?”
Liz rolled her eyes. Oh brother . . . this was going to go downhill quickly.
“I’m saying that you already spent time with you girlfriend for three whole days. I want to spend time with my best friend, and I don’t need some uptight guy cramping my style. This is about Liz and needing some quality girl time. With me! Don’t worry, Lane,” Victoria said, patting his shoulder. “I’ll take real good care of your girl. I’m super responsible.”