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He shook his head. “They wouldn’t even let her come to the stairwell. I didn’t get much past the front door, honestly. I was so pissed, Trina, I can’t even wrap my head around the rage that I felt.”
She stepped closer, looking up at him. “That rage nearly got you killed.”
“Yeah, it was stupid to drive that way, I know.” He shrugged, his grin still in place. “But it brought me you.”
His smile was infectious, but she couldn’t help but point out, “You could have just called me yourself.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He turned to begin walking again, and she walked beside him, still holding his hand. “I almost did, you know. I was one number away and chickened out so many times.”
“What would have happened had I continued my search for you? You know, if I hadn’t sworn off all things you just to deal with life?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“I wanted to get my shit together before I talked to you, or to Justin. I wanted...hell, I wanted to reach out and ask what you’d been told, see if you hated me, if you believed them.”
“Wait.” They stopped and she looked up at him. “What do you mean, if I believed them? I thought that didn’t start until the night you went there, the night of the accident.”
“I was told you were all going to be...Trina, can we not talk about this right now?” His eyes were pleading with her, and she relaxed, knowing she needed to give him time and space to talk when he was ready.
“Of course.”
“Besides.” He grinned again, and it made her stomach flip. “You have pictures to show me.”
“Yes. Yes, I do. My place?” She held her breath in anticipation of his answer.
“I’d love to.”
***
They sat on her couch, the envelopes on the coffee table before them. Katrina had brewed a pot of coffee and they each sat with a cup looking down at the untouched envelopes, their silence comfortable. Even with his closeness, she was able to breathe, to relax, her fears of abandonment on hold.
“Where shall we start?” he asked, and she picked up the envelope from Judith.
“This one. I’ve seen these; they’re really hilarious.” She carefully removed the photos and held the first one in her hand, the one where he had popped the balloon behind the principal’s back. As Lorenzo’s laughter filled her heart and home, he took the picture from her, his fingers brushing hers. She wasn’t sure if he caught her intake of breath or not.
“This is fantastic!” He set that one aside and one by one they went through the photographs familiar to her, ones that she’d sobbed when she first saw them, but now...now with Lorenzo being so close his knee was touching hers, they took on an entirely new meaning. This one was full of emotion as she was witness to his joy, such a contrast from the pain and sorrow he’d let down his walls for her to see.
There was a photo of Emily with her date that he quickly put aside before Katrina showed him the next one.
The one of them on the dance floor, their foreheads touching, the look of love in their eyes.
“I remember this,” he said, taking the photograph from her. “Wow...we look so young.”
“It seems like a lifetime ago,” she commented, leaning over to look closer. “Do you remember what song this was?”
“Every Breath You Take.”
“Oh, a song about a stalker. Nice.”
Lorenzo laughed softly. “I think we were oblivious to it at the time.”
“I was oblivious to everything around me but you.”
He turned his face towards hers, his breath hot on her cheek. “I loved that about you.”
“That I was clueless?”
