Page 21 of Change of Plans

Diccon stared at me for a long moment, then shook his head and walked past me to pick up his shirt from the floor. “I have to go,” he said, putting his shirt on, then looking around for his wallet and keys, which he’d taken out of his pocket before we’d hit the couch.

“Diccon,” I appealed to him, too stunned by everything that had been so good just moments before falling apart so fast.

“I’m sorry,” he said, heading for the door, “but this is just a lot to take in. I didn’t expect you, of all people?—”

He didn’t finish his sentence. He paused with his hand on the door handle, glancing back at me like he was trying to find a reason not to judge me.

“Everything will be fine,” I said, really hoping that was true.

Finally, Diccon blew out a breath. “I hope so,” he said, then pulled open the door and left my apartment.

I stood there, stunned, as I listened to his feet retreat down the stairs, no idea how things between us had changed so fast. It was the best date I’d ever had, and it had even ended gloriously. Until it hadn’t. I had no idea how I could explain things to Diccon to ease his mind.

I had no idea how to keep him from breaking up with me before we’d even gotten started.

CHAPTER 7

Diccon

My place wasn’t that far from Theo’s. I walked home, fuming over what part of me saw as a betrayal. The guy I’d been crushing on for so long and who I’d been so happy to finally go out with was deeply involved in the construction that might spell the end of the one thing that mattered to me more than anything in the world. And he’d implied I was too stupid to understand.

Or had he?

By the time I reached home and carefully avoided my brothers as they sat up watching TV, maybe even waiting for me to get home and tell them all about my night, and secluded myself in my bedroom, I wasn’t so sure if that’s what Theo had been implying after all. Not finishing college had been my decision, and I stood by it. But there were times when I questioned whether people would judge me for it.

Maybe I was judging me for it after all.

I threw off my clothes and stomped across the hall to take a shower before bed, since I hadn’t had time for more than a quick clean-up at Theo’s place. I still smelled a little like him, which tugged at something in my heart and filled me with a combination of longing and regret.

We’d been so good together. The date had been fantastic. We’d had so much to talk about and so much in common. I could see myself hanging out with Theo, spending all our time together, entwining our lives. The sex had been amazing, even though we’d kept things simple. I could tell the two of us were compatible and that we had the potential for a lot more fun down the line. I sensed that Theo was vers like me, which was perfect.

So how had everything fallen apart so fast?

I sighed as I flopped into bed, hair still wet from the shower. It was too complicated for me to worry about tonight. I would sleep, let the whole thing settle in my mind, and puzzle through it in the morning.

Except sleep didn’t come easily. I was worried it wouldn’t come at all. I had too much on my mind, too much weighing me down. Not just things with me and Theo, either. I was worried about Common Grounds, worried that I was right and the construction would cut off foot traffic and end us. I was worried we wouldn’t survive, and I was worried that all the promise of a relationship with Theo that could really mean something would die before it even got started.

The sleepless nightmade dragging myself into work the next morning a chore. I could have taken a day off or called out sick or something, but as part-owner of the café, it was my responsibility to go in and work no matter how I was feeling. Atleast it was Saturday, which meant the morning crowd was considerably smaller than during the week.

“What can I get you?” I asked the unfamiliar, middle-aged woman in work-out gear who had stared at our menu board for a long time before finally approaching the counter.

“Yeah, I guess I’ll have a non-fat latte,” she said, finally dragging her eyes down from the board above me as she pulled out her wallet.

“One non-fat latte,” I said, subdued and distracted. “That’ll be three ninety-five.”

“One non-fat latte?” Brian asked from his usual spot behind me, near the coffee machine. It was far from our usual call and response routine in the mornings, especially since Hannah wasn’t there to echo the order in her singing voice. In fact, if I knew Brian the way I did, I’d say his question was far more personal instead of checking the order.

“Yeah, non-fat latte,” I answered him, taking the woman’s payment with a weak smile.

Brian eyed me, then turned to make the drink. After taking the woman’s payment, I had nothing else to do but sit back and watch him do it. The café wasn’t at all busy. It felt like a harbinger of things to come.

“Okay, what’s going on?” Brian asked as soon as he’d handed off the woman’s drink and it was just the two of us behind the counter with no customers on the horizon. “You’ve been mopey all morning, and that’s definitely not like you.”

“It’s nothing,” I said, shaking my head and leaning against the counter, arms crossed.

“It’s not nothing,” Brian insisted, mirroring my stance against the opposite counter. “You’re usually Mr. Sunshine. Right now, you look more like Mr. Rainy Day.”

That won another weak smile from me, but somewhere between regret over the way things had gone with Theo the night before and worry over the café, that was all I could manage.