Blindsided (Indigo Love Spectrum) (13 page)

“No buts, Norris.” Dahlia’s teary gaze met his. “You’re
right. I’m turned off on relationships. I never denied that. We were on the same page when we started this. Because
y
ou want to confess feelings doesn’t mean I do. I don’t.”
New tears filled her eyes. “I can’t.”

“Dahlia.” He reached out to brush away the tears, but
she stepped back.

“We’re over, Norris.”

“Uh-uh.” Norris shook his head. “I won’t accept that.” He said the words calmly, but felt anything but
calm with the threat of tears burning his eyes.

“You don’t have a choice!” she shouted, racing out of
the room before he could offer a rebuttal or get his feet
to move. Moments later the front door closed behind her.

Norris dropped to the bed.
What just happened here?
Ryan’s words of advice seemed to mock him. Norris
mumbled an expletive and fell backward on the bed. Hot
tears burned down the sides of his face. So much for
telling Dahlia how he felt.

* * *

Dahlia raced up to her bedroom, tossed her purse on the bed, and headed straight for her Jacuzzi tub. If ever there was a time she needed the comfort of the bubbling
jets and steamy water, it was now. She should have
stopped by the grocery store and gotten some chips, too.

Why did he say it!
Dahlia groaned as the tub filled
with hot water and foamy suds from the drops of
lavender bubble bath she added.
Why did he have to say
it!

Dahlia slid into the frothy water and rested her head
on the bath pillow. She closed her eyes, trying to enjoy t
he constant force of water pounding against her body,
but thoughts of Norris and his pounding force inside of
her kept interfering. Their sex life had never been bad,
but tonight . . . Tonight he had loved her. And she’d felt
loved. Cherished. Desired. The same things she’d felt
with Jonah that had left her devastated. Love hurt.

Why did he have to say the words? Why did hearing them make her feel so good?
Who was she kidding? She
knew why.

A romantic at heart but a realist in practice, the idea
of love made her happy and hopeful, but the pain of love
kept her feet firmly planted. Waves of euphoria didn’t
define love, and tingles of pleasure didn’t sustain it. Love
equaled pain. Trusting someone with your heart meant it
could be smashed to smithereens. She didn’t want that
anymore, and Norris had never wanted it. At least that
used to be the case.

Believing Norris could have feelings for her when she
stood deep in denial about the feelings she’d developed
for him was one thing, because moments of hypothetical
what ifs didn’t matter. But hearing these words straight
from his mouth made it a truth she didn’t want to deal
with, because as much as she tried to fight it, Norris was
right. This man who loved African art and leather furni
ture and who doted on himself and his best friend’s chil
dren had stolen her heart. She had fallen in love with
him, too.

“Norris, this is a surprise.” Lara’s bright eyes dimmed
when she peeked out the door around him. “You’re
alone?”

“More than you know,” he answered, stepping into
the house. “Your
husband
around?”

Lara chuckled. “My husband? Ryan is giving Angelica a bath. What’s with the tone?”

“I have a lot on my mind.”

“As well you should. I haven’t been able to stop
smiling since I heard about you and Dahlia. Why didn’t
you bring her?”

“Why? That would be your husband’s fault.”

“There’s that word again. Are you angry at Ryan?”

“Yes.” Norris plopped to couch. “I should have never
listened to him.”

“Listened to him about what? What’s wrong?”

“Everything,” he said, the word coming out strangled
as he fought the resurgence of tears.

“Ryan!” Lara cried, waddling over to the couch and
sitting. “Ryan, come out here!” She took Norris’s hand in
hers. “What happened?”

Ryan raced into the room with an underwear-clad
Angelica padding behind. “Lara, are you okay?” he asked
as Justin rushed in behind him equally alarmed.

“
Mom, what is it? Are the babies coming?” said
Justin.

“No, Justin, I’m fine. It’s Norris.”

Ryan placed his hand over his heart. “Babe, are you
trying to scare me to death? I thought you’d gone into
labor.”

Justin nodded. “Me, too,” he added.

“I’m sorry I scared you, but Norris has scared me.
He’s upset about something.” Lara touched his shoulder
in an offer of comfort. “I’ve never seen him this sad.”

“Sad?” Justin grunted. “With a hot daughter like
Reese?” Justin plopped next to Norris on the couch.
“Mom told me all about this great news. Uncle Norris,
could you get her to stop treating me like a little kid? It’s
really annoying.”

“Justin, you are a little kid,” Ryan said. “And now is
not the time to bother Norris with this. Go to your
room.”

“Aww, Dad. He can make her . . .”

“Justin,” Ryan said more firmly.

“Oh, all right.” Justin groaned, dragging off to his room.

Norris pressed a kiss to Lara’s hand. “Thanks for your
concern, Lara, but I don’t want you worrying about me,”
he said. “I’ll be fine.”

Angelica walked over and touched his knee. “Uncle
Norris, do you have boo-boo somewhere? You look like
you have an owie.”

Managing a smile, Norris brushed his finger against her nose. “I have a bit of an owie right in here,” he said, poking his finger in his chest, “but a kiss from you can make it feel a lot better.”

“All right.” Angelica reached up and kissed his cheek.
“You feel better now?”

Norris nodded. “I sure do.”

Angelica smiled brightly. “Good.”

Norris gave Lara a hand as she struggled to her feet. “I’ll finish dressing Angelica and give you guys some time to talk.” She whispered something in Ryan’s ear and then gave him a kiss when he nodded. “Angelica, tell
Uncle Norris goodnight,” she said over her shoulder.
“Night-night, Uncle Norris.” Angelica waved.
“Goodnight, sweetheart. You sleep well.”

Angelica walked over to Ryan. “You still going to tell me a story, Daddy?”

“Sure will, precious. I’ll be there in a little bit.”

She nodded and took Lara’s hand. “Come on,
Mommy.”

Ryan made his way over to the couch after Lara and
Angelica left. “I take it things didn’t go well tonight,” he
said.

“Considering your three-year-old figured out I had
an ‘owie’ just by looking at me, I’d say that’s a pretty good
assumption.”

“What happened?”

“I followed your advice. Dahlia came over, we were
together and everything was so . . . It was fantastic.”

“So?”

“I told her how I felt, and she flipped. She said we
were over and she left.”

“You just let her walk away?”

“Let her? I didn’t
let
her. I poured my heart out to her.
I said things I can’t believe were coming out of my
mouth. And she didn’t take it well.”

“Oh, man, I’m sorry.”

Norris grunted. “You ought to be. It was your rotten
advice that caused this.”

“I guess that’s what Lara was talking about. You
blame me for this.”

“So that’s what the whispering was about. Humph. I
should have known.”

“She was worried about you and wanted to give me a heads up. You’re in pain right now, so I’ll take your anger,
but you can’t tell me you’re sorry you told Dahlia how you feel.”

“I’m not sorry, but had I known what her reaction
would be before I told her, I think I might’ve reconsid
ered.” Norris took a deeper dive in the pool of self-pity
he’d been swimming in for the last two hours. “I lost the
woman I love before I even had her. Now I don’t have
anything.”

Ryan groaned. “Please, spare me an invitation to your
pity party, Norris. You’re hurting right now, but your
pain will lessen. In the meantime, you still have a lot in
your life.”

“Yeah? Name one thing. And don’t say money. I’d
give every dime I have if it meant I could have Dahlia.”

“I’ll tell you what you have, Norris,” said Lara,
returning to the living room and settling on the couch between him and Ryan. “You have a daughter, you have
u
s, and you have two, soon to be four, godchildren who
love you. As for Dahlia, I think you should give her more
time.”

“That all sounds good, Lara, and I do appreciate you,
Ryan, and your family. But my daughter is still a stranger
to me, and Dahlia seems content to live the rest of her life
without me being a part of it.”

“Has love made you a quitter, Norris?” Ryan asked.
“I’ve never seen you give in so easily.”

“And I’ve never had what feels like a Mack truck slam
into my chest. Experiences change people.”

“They do indeed, and people are also responsible for seeing if those changes are positive or negative. You can control that. Don’t you want to try? Or maybe you don’t
think Dahlia’s worth it. Maybe all that talk today about
wanting Dahlia and your daughter in your life was just
talk.”

Reverse psychology.
Norris smiled in spite of himself. “I
know what you’re doing, Ryan.”

Ryan grinned as he curled his arm around Lara’s. “Is
it working?” he said.

Norris expelled a breath. “Dahlia’s response today
didn’t make me happy, but I think a strong measure of
her anger was from the fact she returns my feelings, and
doesn’t want to face it. I’m not going to give up on her.”
He smiled. “And I hope to have brunch with Reese
tomorrow, so all is not lost. Thank you both for helping me to remember that.”

Lara kissed his cheek. “You don’t have to thank us,
Norris. We love you and we want you to be happy.”

“
I know,” he said, feeling better than he thought he
could after the blowup with Dahlia. “I’ve not quite
reached the level of happiness you and Ryan have, but I
won’t give up until I do.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Ryan said with a big smile.
“You hungry? There’s a pot of chicken stew on the stove.”

“Chicken stew?”

“My wife wanted chicken stew, she got chicken stew.”

Norris shook his head. “No thanks, bud, I’m good.
What I would like is to read that bedtime story to
Angelica.”

“I’m sure she’d love it,” Lara said.

Norris stood. “Good. My daughter isn’t three, but it’s
good to know there’s a sweet little girl who cares about
me without reservation.”

“Angelica knows you. When Reese gets to know you,
she’ll be as crazy about you as Angelica is.”

Norris chuckled. “There’s something to aspire to.” He
made his way into Angelica’s room, stopping at the edge
of the bed when his cell phone rang. His breath caught.
Dahlia?
“Uncle Norris needs one minute, Angelica,” he
said to the waiting girl.