"Well, that wasn’t exactly what I meant. But it’ll work."
"Get comfortable, ángel. I’ll put this in the rec room." He loops an arm around my lower back and pulls me in for a hard kiss. It’s not passionate or heated—it’s reassuring and exactly what I needed to soothe my nerves.
A few minutes later, I walk into Leo’s rec room wearing his black T-shirt and a pair of pink pajama shorts I stashed in his drawer at some point over the last few weeks. He’s reclining on the large leather sofa with a book in his hand and a beer at his side. He’s gotten comfortable too. He’s wearing a pair of gray workout pants and a white tank top. I’ve come to know this outfit as Leo’s pre-sleep attire. Because the minute he climbs into bed, he strips completely naked.
I flop down on the couch at his feet and suck in a deep breath.
"You’re strange."
He looks up from the book with a humor-filled expression. "If, by strange, you mean insanely sexy, then yes, I would have to agree with you." He smirks.
I roll my eyes. "I love how humble you are."
"Why am I strange?" He sits up and places his book on the table next to him.
"Because you don’t pry. I broke down sobbing tonight and you haven’t asked a single question about the necklace or the box."
"Caleb told me it belonged to your best friend who passed away. I don’t need to know the rest. You’ll tell me when your ready."
This man.
I swallow hard, but not because I’m nervous to talk about the wreck. I’m touched by how simple Leo makes everything. Nothing is messy or scary. It almost makes me want to tell him everything. Almost.
"Well, I think I’m ready."
"I’m listening, ángel." He reaches out and grabs my hand, intertwining our fingers before kissing my knuckles.
Here we go.
SARAH TAKES a deep breath and squeezes my hand tight. I’m desperate to hear this story. This could be the moment where she tells me everything, where she lays it all out, and the secrets I’ve been keeping about knowing her past become null and void. This could be the beginning of something real. She’ll still probably be pissed that I didn’t tell her the truth earlier, but I doubt she’ll flip. How can she be pissed if she’s willing to tell me herself?
"Seven years ago, I was in a car accident. My best friend and Caleb’s fiancée was killed. Her name was Manda Baker. She was my other half. We met in college and just clicked from day one. We were inseparable. I’m not exaggerating when I say we talked probably twenty times a day. Casey made our duo a trio about six months later when she moved in across the hall from us. The three of us did everything together. But while I love Casey, there was just always something special about the bond Manda and I shared.
"When she died, it ruined me. I was dealing with some other issues in my life at the time. Caleb was in a bad spot too, and his anger got the best of him. He blamed me for some of the circumstances that led up to Manda’s death. He went so far as to say I was driving drunk. Which I wasn’t!" she quickly corrects.
I nod and brush the hair away from her face, purposely dragging my fingers across her neck in the way that I’ve found calms her. She leans in toward my hand and tears begin to sparkle in her eyes.
"The necklace?" I ask to encourage her.
"Manda and I got it one drunken night while we were in Vegas on a girls’ trip. It was just something silly. They were cheap and nothing fancy, but we pooled our slot winnings because we just had to have them. They started out as a joke, but neither one of us was willing to take them off. She used to play with it when she worried about stuff." The tears finally begin to slide down her cheeks. "Anyway, after Manda passed away, Caleb and I had a bit of a run-in over that necklace. It ended with him throwing it in his front yard. I searched for hours but never found it. I thought it was gone forever. I had no idea he ever recovered it."
"What a dick," I mumble.
Sarah barks out a strangled laugh. "He really is, but he’s a good guy. He was struggling just like I was. He missed her a lot. Caleb was a mess for years until he met Emma." She waves off the comment. "But that’s a different story. So yeah. That box is what’s left of her stuff. I’d really like it if you’d hang out with me while I go through it."
"Of course," I quickly answer.
"Thank you." She leans forward and places a brief kiss to my mouth before moving to the floor.