Better Late Than Never (6 page)

Mr. Feldon’s hand came up to touch hers. “That isn’t what I wanted to talk to you about. I wanted to talk to you about Randy.”

She gave him a puzzled look. “Why do you need to talk to me about Randy?”

His smiled faded. “Because word has it that the two of you are fighting the attraction that you have for each other.”

Kristen sighed. “Mr. Feldon—”

He gave her a knowing look. “I know, but let me say this because it needs to be said. I see myself in him. I have for a while. It has only gotten worse since he had Wade.”

Kristen laughed, but it was more out of necessity than out of humor. “Well, Mr. Feldon, knowing you like I do, I can’t say it’s a bad thing.”

He shook his head. “I’m not talking about his character. I am talking about his ability to be open to a relationship.” Mr. Feldon sighed. “Randy has changed a lot since you two stopped seeing each other. Lila did a number on him. She hurt him, and he is just now becoming the Randy we all once knew again.” A sad expression appeared on his face. “I am speaking from experience. My ex-wife did a number on me, too, so much so I never married again. Not because I didn’t meet anyone worth marrying, but because I couldn’t let go of the past.” Mr. Feldon reached out and took her hand in his. “I look into Randy’s eyes, and I know he hasn’t let the past go. I don’t think he will until someone comes along and forces him to.”

Kristen closed her eyes in sadness. “Mr. Feldon, I can’t imagine what Randy went through, but I’m not over the past either. I’m not even sure what our past was. What am I supposed to do when it seems like Randy didn’t want to be with me in the first place?”

He looked at her in shock. “Why would you say that? Everyone knows that Randy was head over heels for you.”

Kristen’s laugh was devoid of humor. “I thought so as well, but not anymore. Mr. Feldon, Randy broke up with me because he didn’t want to be with me anymore.”

Mr. Feldon stared at her with utter disbelief. “Did Randy tell you that?”

Kristen paused. He hadn’t said it outright, but she was smart enough to read between the lines. Randy hadn’t denied the accusation. Then again, she hadn’t given him much chance to. Was there more to this?

“Kristen, I can’t tell you what to do, but I think that you should at least give Randy the chance to explain. With the history the two of you have together, both of you deserve it. I know for sure there is one person Randy will talk to if she is willing to listen.”

He stopped speaking. It was obvious he had more to say, but he didn’t. She could tell by his expression he thought she was the person Randy would talk to.

The truth was that she and Randy did need to talk about their relationship. That was the problem. She and Randy never discussed their relationship. They talked about everything else, including the personal goals that they had but never their future together. Could that be the reason why Randy reacted the way he had when he saw her with another man? She groaned when she realized that Mr. Feldon had given her more questions than answers. Since her blow up with Randy, she had done a lot of thinking about it. Was she prepared to spend the rest of her life without Randy? One thing she knew for certain was that Mr. Feldon was right. She had to talk to Randy, and she hoped she was prepared for the outcome.

* * * *

“Are you sure that you want to do this?”

Kristen stared at Kayla in the mirror. She was getting ready to meet Randy at Sam’s Café. After her conversation with Mr. Feldon she could no longer put off the inevitable. Avoiding Randy was starting to affect her health. She suffered from a lack of sleep and concentration. Meeting in a public place would mean that she would have to be rational and not scream at him like she wanted to. She knew that screaming wasn’t going to solve anything at this point. She wasn’t sure if anything would.

“No, Kayla. I’m not sure that I want to do this, but I have to. As much as I would like to deny it, I’m still attracted to Randy, and I’m tired of fighting it.”

Kayla reached out and squeezed her shoulder. “I know that you still care about Randy. Just make sure that you do what is best for you.”

Kristen nodded. “I will. Thank you, Kayla.”

Her sister left the bathroom, and Kristen twisted her hair up into large clip. She took one last look at her reflection in the mirror and, releasing a deep breath, tried to force the tension from her body. A short time later, she was walking out the front door. She made the quick drive to Sam’s Café and saw that Randy’s car was already there. She took another deep breath and released it slowly as he got out of the car. Her nerves were racing, and she couldn’t remember being this nervous since the first time she had been alone with Randy.

Randy had been in the garage working on his car, and his sister, Emily, had been helping him. Emily had spotted Kristen and called her over to the house. Emily had borrowed a pair of Keirra’s shoes and wanted to return them. Once the shoes had been deposited into her hands, Kristen turned to go only to be stopped in her tracks by the sight of a now shirtless Randy. She had tried to avert her eyes before he saw her, but she must have been a second too late. Randy had called her over, and it seemed to be the longest walk of her life. When she saw the cherry-red convertible, she smiled. The first thought that had come to mind was it was the perfect car for Keirra. He asked her if she liked his car, and once she gave him a mindless nod, he had given her a rundown of the car.

She had just stood there nodding repeatedly like a bobble head doll. The next thing she knew, his lips had come down on hers. It was the first time she had been kissed. She had been so shocked that she had pulled back, and the next thing she could remember was running all the way home, but she hadn’t gone into the house until she had calmed down.

Keirra and Kayla had still known something had been wrong, but she hadn’t confided in them until Randy had shown up on their porch with a teddy bear in his hands. They had gone for a drive, and he confessed his feelings for her. He had also told her he was going to wait for her, and if she felt the same to wait for him. She had been flattered beyond belief, and she had waited for him. They had corresponded the rest of the school year until he returned home for the summer. It wasn’t until he asked her out on a date to celebrate her eighteenth birthday that it officially became a relationship. A relationship that lasted for four years, and it had been a wonderful relationship—until it fell apart. Now she wanted that back, but when she walked into Sam’s Café, she wondered if they could ever regain what they had lost.

She paused when she saw Randy stand up in a back corner. The restaurant wasn’t full, but he was sitting at a table that offered them maximum privacy, a detail she was thankful for. The things she wanted to say to Randy were meant for his ears only. He remained standing, surprising her when he presented her with a bouquet of lilies. She accepted the flowers graciously.

“Thank you,” she murmured as he held out her chair.

She studied him across the table, and he gave her a hesitant smile.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I ordered for you. This way we can eat and talk without too many interruptions.”

She gave a quick nod. “That is fine.”

Randy knew her well enough to know what she liked, and it gave her the ability to get to the point of dinner. The lemonade sitting in front of her was proof of that. She glanced at the flowers and then looked back at Randy. He looked as tired as she felt, but he was still handsome. She was quickly reminded why she fell in love with him the first time around. She blinked when Randy cleared his throat.

“If it’s okay, I would like to start.”

She gave him a quick nod. “Okay.”

He studied her several heartbeats before speaking.
“I’m sorry, Kristen.
Due to my stupidity, insecurity, or whatever you want to call it, I made a mistake that I can never take back.”

She stared at him for a long time before responding. “How could you think that about me, Randy? How could you just be so willing to automatically assume the worst of me?”

He gave her a horrified look. “That wasn’t what I meant to do.”

“But it’s what you did,” she stated softly. “You doubted everything about me, everything about us with one simple action. What would make you do something like that?”

He made a sound of frustration. “Stupidity to begin with, but the main thing was insecurity. We never talked about our plans together. I talked about what I wanted to do with my future, and you talked about what you wanted in yours, but we never talked about our future. When I saw you kissing that guy, I wasn’t sure that we had one so I thought I would do both of us a favor and walk away.”

Kristen closed her eyes and shook her head. Randy had a good point. The same exact thing had crossed her mind, only it was six years later. During their relationship, she had been so comfortable with it that she had just assumed it would work out.

“I thought that we would always be together, Randy. I just assumed it would be automatically. To me everything happened so naturally that I didn’t think we needed to talk about it. I guess I was too secure in what we had.”

He reached across the table and took her hand in his. “No, Kristen, this was me. This is all on me. It isn’t your fault I gave up so easy. I have always wanted you. I always thought we would be together.”

He paused. “It didn’t take me long to realize that I made a mistake, but I was too embarrassed to come crawling back. I wasn’t sure that you would take me back if I did.”

She pulled her hand out of his embrace. “What makes you think that I will now?”

She watched as an expression of remorse became visible on his face. “I don’t, and I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t, but I am hoping that you will at least give me a chance. I made the mistake once of not trying to get you back. It isn’t a mistake that I will make again.”

“Why was it so easy for you to move on?”

He gave her a stunned look but was unable to respond as their food was delivered to the table. As soon as they were alone again he spoke. “
Easy
?
Being without you was never easy, but I made a decision, and I had to live with it.”

She gave him a pointed look. “What about Lila?”

“I cared for Lila, although not in the way I thought I did now when I look back. I might regret the relationship, but I don’t regret Wade.”

She hated that because there had been no one else since Randy, he had been the only man for her whether she wanted to admit it or not. There was another round of silence before Kristen spoke. “So where do we go from here, Randy?”

He gave her a look of uncertainty. “I don’t know. A lot has changed, but I know I want to try, and I’m hoping you do as well.”

She gave him a sad look. “You are right. A lot has changed. Do you think it is possible for us to be together again and it
be
like it was?”

“I don’t know, Kristen, but tonight was the first step, and I would love to see you again next weekend. I have Saturday off, but I am on call.”

Kristen stifled a groan. She wasn’t ready to say no, but she wasn’t ready to say yes either. This wasn’t going to be easy, and she knew that Randy wasn’t going to make it any easier either. She studied him across the table and looked for any hint that he was being dishonest, and she couldn’t find any.

“It’s not going to be that easy, Randy. You didn’t have any reason not to trust me, but you have given me plenty of reason not to trust you. I just need time to think about this. Right now that is all that I can promise you.”

She expected Randy to press the issue, but he didn’t. Instead, he gave her a small smile. “That is all I can ask for, Kristen.”

She looked down at her chicken Alfredo and tried to focus on the conversation while she ate, but when she finally arrived home she could hardly remember any of it. Her mind was on why she could come up with more reasons to give Randy a second chance than reasons why she shouldn’t.

* * * *

Randy climbed into his truck and drove the short distance to his parents’ house, his mind on Kristen the entire way. Dinner with Kristen hadn’t gone the way he planned, but she hadn’t said no. Her answer gave him hope. He wanted another chance with Kristen to build the life they should already have. He had been stupid to push her away without talking to her first. However, he wouldn’t be the first to claim emotional maturity at the age of twenty-six. Yet, six years could make a difference. At the age of thirty-two, he was certain of what he wanted. He wanted Kristen and hoped she would give him the opportunity to prove it.