“Come on, firecracker. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Landon eased out of me, and then we both headed into the shower. Exhaustion settled over my whole body as soon as the hot spray hit my skin. I could have slept for days after that. Landon must have noticed the fight go out of my limbs because he did most of the work. He took his time in lathering up my body with the eucalyptus bath soap I adored. His hands were deft and slippery. He ran his fingers through my long hair and massaged my scalp. It was heavenly, and it made me forget for a little bit longer what was to come later this week. The real reason I was irritated and weary.
Once we were both clean, Landon wrapped a towel around my shoulders and kissed my lips. “You look tired. Why don’t you crawl into bed, and I’ll find you some clothes?”
I nodded absentmindedly and walked to the bed. I toweled off most of the water and then knotted the towel in my hair before climbing into bed. My body succumbed to the soft comforter and down pillows on contact. I vaguely heard Landon slip back into his boxer briefs and rummage through my drawers.
“T-shirts are in the closet,” I mumbled.
“You hang up all your T-shirts?”
“Yes. I’m a bit obsessive.”
He laughed and then entered the walk-in closet, flicking on the overhead light. He returned a minute later with a high school cheerleading shirt in hand and a pair of underwear.
“No shorts?” I asked, pushing the covers back and sitting up to slide into the clothes.
“I’d love to keep you naked all night, but I think you need to sleep. And I want to be able to grab your ass.”
I laughed as I tugged on the T-shirt. “You’re ridiculous.”
“Probably,” he said with a shrug. “Hey, what are all those letters in there?”
I froze in place, my hand halfway to pulling my hair out of the towel. “What?” I squeaked.
“You realize you have a huge collection of letters in a box in your closet, right?” he said with an easy laugh as he walked around to the other side of the bed.
“You went through my letters?” I asked, panicked.
“No.” He turned to look at me, as if just realizing that I was freaking out. “I just saw them. They’re sitting out in the open.”
“They’re nothing. Forget about them,” I said a little too hastily.
“Heidi—”
“I said, forget about them.” I raised my voice and stormed into the bathroom to hang up my towel. My hands were shaking as I put it on a hook on the back of the door, and my stomach was in knots. I hadn’t even thought about him seeing the letters. I hadn’t considered he would ask.
Landon knocked twice on the bathroom door and sighed. “Heidi, come out here, please.”
I took a deep breath and opened the door. “Hey.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that would upset you. I was legitimately curious.”
I nodded twice and then stepped into his open arms. “It’s…it’s okay. I just…I wasn’t prepared.”
“It’s okay. Let’s go to bed, all right?”
I nodded.
We crawled into bed, and Landon turned off the last light, casting us into darkness. He pulled me tight against his chest and kissed my shoulder. I lay there, completely content with just listening to the rise and fall of his chest and his gentle breathing. I waited until I was sure he was almost asleep before getting up the guts to say anything.
“They’re from my dad,” I whispered.
It was the first time I had ever said that aloud. I was pretty sure Emery knew, but we didn’t talk about it.
“I thought they might be,” Landon said into my shoulder.
“I don’t answer them.”
“Ever?”
“Not once in six years.”
Landon sighed softly. “Is that when he went to prison?”
I nodded. My voice was hoarse when I said, “Six years on Saturday.”
“That’s a long time not to talk to him.”
“Not long enough,” I countered.
Landon pressed another kiss into my shoulder. I thought he knew not to press me on it and that it was a big step that I had even told him this much. As often as we had talked before and as much as everyone in the town knew about Hank Martin’s illegal affairs, no one ever dared to talk about it with me.
“And, on Saturday…are you going to be okay?”
“I usually spend the day alone,” I admitted.
“I don’t want you to be alone this year,” he told me. “Not anymore. Not when you have me. Okay?”
I nodded because words were failing me. “Okay.”
Twenty-Six
Heidi
I woke up to the sound of the door slamming, and Emery yelling my name, “Heidi?”
“Oh, fuck,” I murmured.
Landon groaned next to me and tugged me closer to him. Either he was the deepest sleeper ever or he simply didn’t care that my best friend, his freaking ex-girlfriend, was about to walk in on us while we were half-naked.
“Landon,” I said, shoving him. “Get up. Get up. Get up. You need to…like, hide in the closet.”
His brown eyes slowly opened and stared up at me. He had a sexy grin on his face and said, “Morning.”
“Landon, come on.”
“Did you say, hide in the closet?” he asked, as if just processing what I’d said.
“Yeah, Emery is—”
Just then Emery burst into the room, dressed in a pair of tiny black shorts and an oversize black T-shirt. It could have been Jensen’s.
“Oh, shit,” Emery said.
“Home,” I finished.
Landon languidly rolled over and stretched his arms over his head. “Morning, Em.”
“Oh my God,” she said, holding her hands up over her eyes. “That was not…I mean—fuck. I’m just going to—yep, all right then.” She stumbled backward out of the doorway.
I groaned. “Ugh!”
Landon laughed, reaching for me. “Why are you so embarrassed?”
I pushed him back into the pillow. “You are such a dude.”
“Hey, hey,” he said, holding up his hands. “She’s the one dating my brother.”
I threw my pillow at him as I jumped out of bed. “And do you want to see her in bed with him?”
He scrunched up his nose.
“Yeah, I didn’t think so.”
I knotted my hair up on the top of my head as I left my bedroom to go find my best friend. “Hey, Em?”
“In here,” Emery called from her bedroom.
“Hey.”
She waved her hand as she dug through her closet for clothes to wear to work.
“Sorry about that.”
“It’s no big,” she said. “I just…was a hundred percent unprepared for that.”
“Yeah, I guess it’s probably pretty weird.”
Emery shot me a no-shit look. “That’s a word for it.”
“I know you said that you were cool with it, but I really don’t want you to feel uncomfortable in your own apartment. We don’t have to be here if you don’t—”
Emery held up her hand. “Bring it down a level, hooker. I don’t care that you’re together, and I don’t want you to have to go somewhere else.”
“But?” I prompted.
“But…I don’t know how long I can keep this from Jensen.”
Landon stuck his head in the bedroom. Thankfully, he’d shrugged back into his button-up and slacks. “Sorry, just happened to overhear.”
Emery rolled her eyes at him. “Yeah, because we’re so quiet.”