“Happy Birthday,” he said, leaning over and surprising me by tucking my hair behind my ear. “Now, make a wish and blow them out, so we can eat this monstrosity.”
“Beautiful monstrosity,” I murmured, staring at the fluffy icing, imagining Leo standing in the kitchen making something special just for me. I grew emotional, sitting there, thinking of him trying his best to be my friend. I blew out the candles and made my wish. It might never come true, but my heart still yearned for Leo.
Some would say love at first sight is ridiculous, and perhaps love never happens for those people at all. I kept thinking about what Sebastian had said: that when it was real then you know it. I looked at Leo, sitting there around his friends and family and knew the truth. I loved him. Forever. Was it surprising that as I was searching for myself, I’d also found love? Yeah. Fate, destiny, karma, kismet, God, crazy coincidences, or whatever you wanted to call it, had written in the stars that I would find my soulmate.
Only he didn’t feel the same. It wasn’t fair, I wanted to yell out. Why grant me this once-in-a-lifetime chance and then leave me unrequited? Why was he my Romeo, but I wasn’t his Juliet?
Did I have the strength to move on and find my happy moments with someone else? Could I let him go?
Chapter 21
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Nora
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“Um, meerkats? Yeah, not so cute and cuddly. Have you seen the nasty things they eat? I bypass them at the zoo . . . freakish little things.” –Nora Blakely (shuddering)
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A few days later, I arrived at the gym for my first day on the job. Leo let me in after I buzzed the bell since the gym hadn’t officially opened yet for the public. He sat down with me and explained the requirements and gave me several shirts with Club Vita’s logo on them. He informed me he was going to pay me twenty dollars an hour, which I thought was ridiculously too much, but he insisted. My schedule would be three days a week from one o’clock until four, which would put me at close to one-hundred eighty dollars a week before taxes. I did the math and figured I’d have a small nest egg saved by the time college started.
He left me to work in his private office, so I settled in at the front desk, getting familiar with the computer and the list Leo had left for me to do.
As Sebastian let himself in the door from school, my phone buzzed. I looked down to see Finn had left me another text, but thankfully no picture. He’d been bombarding me with emails and texts all week. Usually I deleted them without reading, but this time, I needed to know what he was thinking. I suspected he was growing desperate, and it scared me.
I didn’t feel safe.
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—Call me. This is your last warning, sister. If you don’t answer...
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I stared at it for a long time, trying to understand why he was like he was. I came up with nothing except that we’d both been raised by Mother.
“Nora?” Sebastian asked, sitting down beside me. “What’s wrong?”
“Read a text from Finn,” I said, gesturing at my phone. “Stupid. I shouldn’t have.”
“He’s not going to bother you here,” he said, resting his hand on my back.
I shook my head, thinking how na?ve he was. “Haven’t you ever watched a horror movie? The bad guy always comes back for the girl. And he pops out of nowhere just when you least expect it.”
“But the good guys win in the end.”
I chewed on my lip uncertainly. “His messages are coming more often. I think he’s finally lost it. I mean, he’s moving back home. He hated it there as much as I did. Mother was horrible to us both.”
“Damn it, Nora, tell Leo. He’ll put a stop to it, trust me.”
“No,” I said, turning back to the computer.
Sebastian grunted angrily, but I ignored him.
As we worked, Tiffani buzzed and Sebastian let her in. She breezed through the door, dressed in another designer workout outfit. Her top was bright pink and cropped, showing off her spray tan and slim waist. The matching pants were glued to her short legs.
She stopped at the desk and stood there, moving from one foot to the next. I sat there pretending to type life-threatening membership information in the computer.
“How was BA today?” she asked, her eyes darting between Sebastian and myself.
“It was great, thanks for asking,” Sebastian replied. “Are you here to work out?” he asked, glancing at her clothes. “Most of the machines are up and ready if you are.”
“Oh, that’s okay. I just finished a run at the park. I must look a mess,” she said with a tinkling laugh, smoothing down her perfect hair. Of course, she didn’t have a drop of sweat on her, and this was September in Texas.
“I just dropped by to see Leo. Is he around?” she asked Sebastian, flicking her eyes at me and smirking.