âOkay,â she breathes, and itâs only when she takes a step inside, hiding behind the wall as she leaned against it that she realised what sheâd done. Invited in an old friend who likely had a lot of resentment towards her over their falling out. Without even giving the guy a chance to breathe, sheâd coerced him into a coffee inside her home. Whilst heâs on the job â what the hell is wrong with you Nat?! That thought process soon came to a halt as she heard him approaching again, and managing to swallow hearing that name again. Like, they were back in eighth grade, the best of friends. âCome on in,â Natalia smiles, stepping aside to allow him through. Seriously, what the hell? âSorry if I put you out or anything. I just felt so bad for making you come out all this way andâI should shut up now,â she states, laughter escaping her lips as she shakes her head and gestures for him to follow her toward the living area. âIâve been good. Iâm a wedding planner now, that keeps me busy.. and so does my daughter. Sheâs a teenager now, which scares the hell out of me every day, but yeah, Iâve been doing well. âHow are you? Iâve seen you around town a few times, I just⌠never got the chance to say hello.âÂ
âSeriously, donât worry about it. Iâm glad it was just a false alarm and nothing more than that.â he chuckled, shrugging away her apology yet again, hoping that she wouldnât continue feeling guilty throughout their entire interaction. He followed her further into the house and a strange awareness of just how much life had passed since they were kids growing up together stole over him. He had known Natalia Parker as a kid, but that was years, and years ago. The house, the pictures, the furniture, everything pointed to a life that Will was no longer familiar with.Â
He tried not to dwell on that too much as he turned his attention back to the brunette. âI heard something like that in the rumor mill.â he replied, bringing his hand up to scratch the back of his head, not wanting to admit how much heâd inquired about her when heâd found out that she still lived in Northport. âYour own business and a teenage daughter? Thatâs really great, Nat, Iâm happy for you.â And he truly was. He was happy that Natalia had good things in her life, that she was doing well. Even if things were kind of weird between them now, he would always want good things for her. He paused as she brought up the seeming elephant in the room. Theyâd both been in the same town, a pretty small town too, for four years and yet hadnât ever reconnected until now. Why was that? Had it just become too awkward after a while? He let out a breath, âYeah, weâve both kinda had our hands full, huh?â he offered with a small smile, willing to let it go if she was. âUncle Max left his bar to me, for whatever reason, and Iâve been working at the fire station for a couple years now too.â he explained, trying not to ramble too much. As much as he would like a proper catch up session, he wasnât sure how much of this was just Natalia being polite. And he didnât want to read too much into all of this.Â