Message in a Bottle - Nicholas Sparks [94]
Garrett didn’t want to think about it. Instead he focused on the fact that he loved Theresa, clinging to the belief that if they were meant to be together, they would find a way to do it.
Deep down, however, he knew it wasn’t going to be that easy, and not just because of the distance between them. After he’d returned from his second trip to Boston, he had a picture of Theresa enlarged and framed. He set it on the bedstand opposite Catherine’s picture, but despite his feelings for Theresa, it seemed out of place in his bedroom. A few days later he moved the picture across the room, but it still didn’t help. Wherever he put it, it seemed to him as if Catherine’s eyes would follow it. This is ridiculous, he told himself after moving it yet again. Nonetheless he found himself finally slipping Theresa’s picture into the drawer and reaching for Catherine’s instead. Sighing, he sat on the bed and held it in front of him.
“We didn’t have these problems,” he whispered as he ran his finger over her image. “With us, everything always seemed so easy, didn’t it?”
When he realized the picture wouldn’t answer, he cursed his foolishness and retrieved Theresa’s picture.
Staring at them both, even he understood why he was having so much trouble with it all. He loved Theresa more than he ever thought he could… but he still loved Catherine….
Was it possible to love them both at once?
“I can’t wait to see you again,” Garrett said.
It was the middle of November, a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. Theresa and Kevin were flying home to see her parents for the holidays, and Theresa had made arrangements to come down the weekend before to spend some time with Garrett. It had been a month since they’d seen each other.
“I’m looking forward to it, too,” she said. “And you promised that I’d finally get to meet your father, right?”
“He’s planning on cooking an early Thanksgiving dinner for us at his place. He keeps asking me what you like to eat. I think he wants to make a good impression.”
“Tell him he doesn’t have to worry. Anything he makes will be fine.”
“That’s what I keep telling him. But I can tell he’s nervous about it.”
“Why?”
“Because you’ll be the first guest we’ve ever had over. For years, it’s just been the two of us.”
“Am I interrupting a family tradition?”
“No—I like to think that we’re starting a new one. Besides, he was the one who volunteered, remember?”
“Do you think he’ll like me?”
“I know he will.”
When he found out Theresa was coming, Jeb Blake did some things he hadn’t ever done before. First, he hired someone to come in and clean the small house where he lived, a job that ended up taking almost two days because he was so adamant that the house be spotless. He also bought a new shirt and tie. Emerging from his bedroom in his new clothes, he couldn’t help but notice the surprise in Garrett’s eyes.
“How do I look?” he asked.
“You look fine, but why are you wearing a tie?”
“It’s not for you—it’s for dinner this weekend.”
Garrett continued to stare at his father, a wry smile on his face. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in a tie before.”
“I’ve worn them before. You just haven’t noticed.”
“You don’t have to wear a tie just because Theresa is coming.”
“I know that,” he replied tersely, “I just felt like wearing one to dinner this year.”
“You’re nervous about meeting her, aren’t you?”
“No.”
“Dad—you don’t have to be someone you’re not. I’m sure Theresa would like you no matter how you were dressed.”
“That doesn’t mean I can’t look nice for your lady friend, does it?”
“No.”
“Then I guess it’s settled, isn’t it? I didn’t come out here to get your advice about it, I came out here to see if I looked okay.”
“You look fine.”
“Good.”
He turned and started back to the bedroom, already untucking his shirt and loosening the tie. Garrett watched him vanish from sight, and a moment later he heard his