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He went down the stairs, admiring the family photos that lined the walls. There were plenty of pictures of all four Blakes together as a family, but there were also quite a few of Garrett on his own. Chris paused at each one, remembering his friend.
It had been months since his passing, but the pain hadn’t eased. It was still hard to think about Garrett. Chris still remembered his friend’s dying words.
Take care of her.
Chris knew exactly who Garrett meant, and to him, the moment was even more profound since Garrett had constantly told him not to pursue Sarah.
There’s so much about her you don’t know.
Sarah is sweet, but she’s complicated.
Be careful around my sister. She’s going through a lot.
Chris had listened to his friend. He’d written to Sarah almost every day and chatted with her online just as much. They’d grown close, but he hadn’t pushed it. He hadn’t crossed any lines.
But Garrett knew exactly how Chris felt about her and with his dying breath, he’d given his blessing.
Now Chris just had to convince Sarah he was worthy of her heart.
2
Sarah couldn’t quite believe Chris had actually come to her parents’ place for dinner. He hadn’t made it back for the funeral in June, and after that, they’d barely spoken. Neither one of them had much to say. Death could do that to you.
When they did talk, their conversations were brief, but no less hot than they’d been prior to losing Garrett. Something about Chris brought out the flirt in Sarah and she never knew what was going to come out of his mouth next.
Still, she’d missed him. She hadn’t even known he was back from Afghanistan until her mother told her. Everyone was so busy grieving, wrapped up in their own worlds, that reaching out had been hard. Scary. Painful. Communication had been brief and simple. She couldn’t talk to Chris without thinking of Garrett. She wondered if he felt the same way about her.
Still, it was good to see him. She followed her mother into the kitchen and pulled the pies out of the oven. She set them on the cooling racks on the counter, then placed her oven mitts in the drawer. When she turned back around, Sarah’s mom was watching her with an eyebrow raised.
“What?” She asked innocently.
“Don’t you ‘what’ me, young lady,” Rita practically laughed as she talked. “I saw the way he looked at you.”
“Trus
t me,” Sarah said. “He only thinks of me as his friend’s little sister. Nothing more than that.” It was a lie and they both knew it. Chris had never come right out and asked Sarah out or insinuated that he wanted a relationship, but when they talked, they had a hard time keeping things PG.
“We’ll see,” Rita said. She didn’t sound convinced, and Sarah wondered if her mother might be right. Was there any chance Chris wanted a relationship with her? She hated to think she was getting her hopes up. She knew there wasn’t really a chance they would make it past a few dates. Her life was too complicated for anyone to handle, much less a returned airman.
Sarah had liked him from their very first chat. Talking to him had been easy and casual. They’d talked every day until her brother’s death and it had always been smooth. Words seemed to flow from her mouth like poetry when she talked to Chris.
She liked that feeling.
When Garrett died, Chris had pulled away, and Sarah hadn’t blamed him. He hadn’t made it to the funeral because he was still deployed. He’d only gotten back a few weeks ago, according to her mother. Still, there had been a part of her that hoped he would call when he got back. There was a part of her that hoped he would wake up and realize she was right there, that she had always been there, but that didn’t happen.
Real life was no fairytale.
Mom had been the one to reach out to Chris, to invite him for supper. Part of Sarah was still surprised he had agreed to come. He had been so silent in the weeks since her brother died.
She thought Chris must miss Garrett nearly as much as she did. She had grown up with Garrett, but Chris had grown with Garrett. They had been together at every duty station and her brother had loved talking about his best friend. When he deployed, she had quickly decided to send cookies to the two of them, and it had spawned some sort of friendship between her and Chris.
Meeting him in person had been nothing like she expected, though. He was tall and fit and she was so…not. His short hair was dark and his eyes were brown. They were deep. Girls in books always talked about eyes you could drown in, and those were the type of eyes Chris had.
Perfect eyes.
“Go set the table, will you, Sarah?” Rita asked, not unkindly. Sarah nodded, quickly brought back to the present, and realized she could hear her father’s voice from the dining room. She grabbed a handful of silverware and headed into the adjoining room where Chris and her father were both seated at the table.
“There’s my beautiful girl,” her dad said, and Sarah smiled. She looked at Chris, but quickly looked away when his eyes met hers. Dammit. She was behaving like a teenager. She set the table while they talked about the Vikings and how heartbreaking it was to have them as your favorite team. When Sarah placed the silverware by Chris’ spot, her arm brushed up against his.
