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“Having breakfast with the two of you,” he stated simply, because the real answer was more complicated.
“Don’t be an ass like your brother,” she said, ignoring Dylan’s affronted look. “Tell me something . . . did she let you go, or did you let her go?”
Leo couldn’t bring himself to answer, because not only had he let her go, but he’d essentially shoved her right out of his life.
“You big, dumb, stupid man,” she said, obviously correctly reading into his silence. “And here I told Peyton not to break your heart.”
“What are you talking about?” Leo frowned in confusion. “When did you tell her that?”
“When we were sitting alone outside on the deck at your mother’s on Thursday,” she said, shaking her head. “Leo, I saw the way you were looking at Peyton that night, the way you touched her when you thought no one was looking, and you seemed happier than you have been in a long time. And I told her, whatever happens between the two of you, she just shouldn’t break your heart. And instead, you broke hers.”
You broke her fucking heart. The truth hit Leo like a sledgehammer, and his stomach rolled as visions of Peyton standing in front of him, her heart open and vulnerable as she told him she loved him, flashed through his mind. Then, she’d told him he was a man she could easily spend the rest of her life with. She’d been brave enough to say those words to him, and he’d been a coward and pushed her away, even as he told himself he was doing the noble thing for her.
The waitress came by with their meals, and when she set Leo’s Denver omelet in front of him, the scent of his breakfast added to the turmoil churning in his stomach. Jesus, what had he done?
“Leo,” Serena said, pulling him out of his dark thoughts. “It’s not too late.”
“Not too late for what?” Dylan asked, completely obtuse as he shoveled a big bite of his pancakes into his mouth.
“To go and get the girl who loves him,” she said, smacking Dylan upside the head as if to knock some sense into him, which earned her a perturbed glare from Leo’s brother.
God, those two.
Realizing he didn’t have much time, Leo grabbed his phone, which had Peyton’s flight itinerary, and started moving out of the booth.
“Hey, if you’re leaving, can I have your omelet?” Dylan asked, oblivious to the fact that Serena had just saved Leo from making the biggest mistake of his life.
“Knock yourself out, brother,” Leo said with a laugh.
While Dylan reached across the table for his plate, Serena
caught Leo’s arm before he walked away, a huge smile on her face. “Don’t forget, since you were the idiot who let her go, it’s up to you to make a grand gesture to win her back.”
He cocked his head in confusion. “A grand gesture?”
Serena nodded. “Be loud and proud and don’t be afraid to let everyone know how you feel about her. Trust me, that’s about as grand as it gets.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, and headed for the door, hoping that he wasn’t too late to win her back.
* * *
Finished checking in her luggage, Peyton slung her travel bag over her shoulder and headed for the security checkpoint. The airport was fairly crowded, and she started wending her way back and forth through the long line leading up to the TSA employee checking tickets and identifications of every flyer.
Her entire body felt weary, including her heart, and she wondered just how long it was going to take for her to get over Leo. That thought prompted a dry laugh. If her college crush on him hadn’t diminished after all these years, then it was going to take a lifetime for her to get over the fact that she was in love with him now.
The realization made her head pound as she shuffled closer to the guard. Somewhere in the terminal, she heard some idiot hollering, though it was hard to make out where the yelling was coming from or what was being said. The people in front of her looked around as the commotion continued, but Peyton didn’t have the energy to even care.
“Hey, I think that guy over there is trying to get your attention,” the woman in front of her said, pointing to the far side of the zigzagging line they were walking through.
Certain the woman was mistaken, Peyton gave a cursory glance in that direction, and holy shit, her jaw dropped when she saw that it was Leo, waving his arms wildly in the air and pointing at her, since he was unable to bypass the ropes keeping him out of the security line. She stared at him, dumbfounded that he was there at the airport. Had she forgotten something important in his car from last night? She glanced at her things. No, she had her wallet, her purse, her cell phone, and everything she needed to get on this plane.
“Peyton!”
She continued moving forward in the line, and because she wasn’t going to scream across the terminal and annoy the travelers around her, she gave him a look that said, What are you doing here?
He cupped his hands around his mouth for her to hear him better. “Don’t go!”
She shook her head at him, hating that she was becoming the focus of everyone’s attention. Yes, she was going . . . because he’d given her no reason to stay. She had no idea what he was doing, but she had a plane to catch and—
