Text Me Back

14. Nothing To Read Into...

"You looked so much taller than me..."

"Well hello to you too, did you get home safe?"

"I did, Chloe kept texting Travis the entire way home, did you know?"

"Travis is so secretive with his texting so I'm usually clueless to that – but I'm glad they hit it off."

"What about you and me? Did we hit it off?" Florence joked.

"I'd say we go together like nachos and guacamole."

Florence chuckled, "It was great seeing you tonight, Eric. I was so nervous but as soon as we left I wanted to see you again."

"I think it's because we got to know each other before we met and now that we've actually seen each other it felt strange to skip the whole formal thing."

"Yeah you're probably right. Sometimes I think about the fact that you know more about me than people who have known me for years."

"Like what?"

"Like how much I dislike my family for example. Most people think I'm just a bratty Beverly Hills offspring that loves to spend her parent's money, but you saw more than that."

"I think about that too. I've never told anyone except for boss, and Michael, about my mother's fall, and then you came along."

"Why haven't you told Travis?"

"Because Travis has a big mouth and I wouldn't want this to spread around the office like wildfire. My family's lives are private, you know?"

"It scared you, didn't it? When your mother got injured..." Florence gently pushed the topic and hoped he felt comfortable enough to answer; otherwise she'd leave it until he did.

She could hear him breathing on the other end and then a defeated sigh left his lungs.

"That day was the worst day of my life, to be honest. I remember getting the phone call at work and speeding to the hospital, believing she'd die. Thankfully she didn't. But in the beginning she suffered from severe depression and barely ate or got out of bed."

"How did your father take it all? It must have been brutal to see his wife like that."

"He was struggling to manage time between taking care of my mother and going to work. After we realized how much money was being lost having my father stay at home I took some vacation time and stayed with my mother. My sisters did the best they could to help, as well."

"Eric..." she said under a whisper and caught herself tearing up.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" A concerned Eric asked.

"What you did for your mom, both your parent's, is incredible Eric. Not a lot of people would've done what you did and it makes me want to be better. It inspires me."

"You're already a great person Florence, you don't have to—"

"Oh Eric if you only knew...the way you feel about your parent's; I don't feel that about mine. Sometimes I look at my father, who is in his sixty-nine years old might I add, and there is no love there. Nothing..."

"What about your mom?"

"I think I love her but I'm not sure. I'm not even sure I know what love truly feels like. What does it feel like?"

"You're going to force me to sound corny, so this is on you," Eric laughed and then sucked in a large breath, "To me falling in love with Jennifer felt like listening to my favorite song every time I saw her and never getting tired of it. I couldn't dream about anything else because reality was already better than my dreams. The saying 'getting drunk on love' is very true, actually."

"Do you think you'll feel that way for someone again?" She asked him, hoping he hadn't caught on to what she was truly implying – she wouldn't even admit it to herself if being forced to.

"It's too early to tell because I still love Jennifer and a part of me will always have those emotions for her – but maybe one day someone will make me feel that way again and then I'll know."

"It's getting kind of late..." she hinted and dragged her hand through her tussled hair.

"Before you go; can I ask you a question?" Eric rushed to say to which Florence said yes to. 

"Tonight when we met you asked me if I was going to tell Jennifer about our friendship; why did you ask that?"

"I-I was just making small talk, Eric, there's nothing to read into. I'll talk to you tomorrow." 

After a few seconds of silence he finally answered.

"Okay...as long as you're sure about that. Sleep tight, Florence."