The Rescue - Nicholas Sparks [101]
“No, I’m not mad about that. You were just having fun. We all were.”
“But you’re worried anyway?”
“I don’t know . . . I guess . . .” She glanced at Melissa. “Maybe a little. He’s been quiet all night.”
“I wouldn’t read too much into that. I know he really cares about you. He lights up whenever he looks your way—even after I teased him.”
She watched as Taylor pushed in the chairs around the table.
Denise nodded. “I know.”
Despite her answer, she couldn’t help but wonder why that suddenly didn’t seem to be enough. She sealed the Tupperware bowl with a lid.
“Did Mitch say anything to you about anything that happened while they were out front with the kids?”
Melissa looked at her curiously. “No. Why?”
Denise put the salad in the refrigerator. “Just curious.”
Daddy.
So are you gonna marry this girl or what?
As he nursed his beer, the words continued to echo through Taylor’s mind.
“Hey, why so glum?” Mitch asked, filling a plastic garbage bag with the remains from the table.
Taylor shrugged. “Just preoccupied. That’s all.”
“About what?”
“Just work stuff. I’m just trying to figure out everything I’ve got to do tomorrow,” Taylor answered, telling only the partial truth. “Since I’ve been spending so much time with Denise, I’ve let my business slide a little. I’ve got to get back into it.”
“Haven’t you been heading in every day?”
“Yeah, but I don’t always stay all day. You know how it is. You do that long enough and little problems start cropping up.”
“Anything I can do? Check how your orders are coming, things like that?”
Taylor placed most of his orders through the hardware store.
“No, not really, but I’ve got to get it squared away. One thing I’ve learned is that when things go wrong, they go wrong in a hurry.”
Mitch hesitated as he put a paper cup in the bag, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu.
The last time Taylor had used that expression, he’d been dating Lori.
Thirty minutes later Taylor and Denise were driving home, Kyle between them, a scene that had been repeated dozens of times. Yet now, for the first time, there was an air of tension in the truck without a reason that could be easily explained by either of them. But it was there, and it had kept them quiet enough that Kyle had already fallen asleep, lulled by the silence.
For Denise, the sensation was a strange one. She kept thinking about everything that Melissa had told her, her statements rattling through her brain like senseless, ricocheting pinballs. She didn’t feel like talking, but then Taylor didn’t, either. He’d been strangely distant, and that only intensified her feelings. What was supposed to have been a casual, friendly night out with friends, Denise knew with certainty had become something far more important than that.
Okay, so Taylor had almost choked when Melissa had asked if marriage was in the plans. That would have surprised anyone, especially the way Melissa had blurted it out, wouldn’t it? In the truck she tried to convince herself of that, but the more she thought about it, the more unsure she felt. Three months isn’t a long time when a person is young. But they weren’t kids. She was pushing thirty, Taylor was six years older than that. They’d already had a chance to grow up, to figure out exactly who they were, to know what they wanted in their lives. If he wasn’t as serious about their future together as he seemed to be, then why the full-court press these last couple of months?
All I know is that one day they seemed to be doing fine and the next thing you knew, it was over. I never did understand why.
That was also bothering her, wasn’t it? If Melissa didn’t understand what had happened with Taylor’s other relationships, Mitch probably didn’t, either. Did that mean that Taylor didn’t understand it?
And if so, was the same thing going to happen to her?
Denise felt a knot form in her stomach, and she glanced at Taylor uncertainly. From the corner of his eye, Taylor caught her glance and turned to face her, seemingly oblivious