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“Here. You choose,” I say as I pass her the remote and sit down on the couch.
In this house, whenever I'm lucky to get the remote to the TV, it takes a full army to unleash it from my hands since who knows when I’ll get the opportunity again. But with Val, I hand it over without even thinking about it. She chooses a rom-com with some pretty boy actor and shuffles into the couch to get comfortable. She wraps her hand with mine, and leans her head on my shoulder. A few minutes pass in silence, and I trail my gaze over her face to see if she's okay, only to find that Val is out like a light. She must be exhausted from today's events. She was so nervous about starting school, and having her first period today must have really been the straw that broke the camel’s back. But as she sleeps against me, I hold her close, rubbing her arms ever so lightly, oddly grateful that it’s in my arms she sought out comfort.
I'm startled when, from the corner of my eye, my mom's shadow appears.
“Jesus, Mom! You almost gave me a heart attack.”
“Consider it payback for the one you gave me earlier this morning,” she goads, sitting on the armrest next to us. She looks over at a sleeping Val, and I can’t help but watch her, too.
"You like her, don’t you?" Mom whispers beside me.
I just nod in reply, my eyes still lingering over Val’s angelic features.
My mom lets out a sigh.
“She really is special, isn’t she?”
I nod again.
“That's what I thought. Remember what I always say about fragile beautiful things. They are easy to break. Especially a lovesick heart.”
My brows crease, not remembering my mother saying the last bit ever.
Little did I know how true her warning was.
Chapter 9
Now
________________________________________
Valentina
I'm faintly aware that the food is good. Perfect is probably a better word for it actually. But I can't savor it the way I'm sure that it deserves to be savored, because I'm so caught up inthem.
I had dreamed about what it would be like if I actually got a chance to be with the three of them again, but this blows away anything I could have come up with.
I'd forgotten how funny Quaid is, how good it feels to be the center of Logan's attention. I'd even forgotten how much I loved Carter's dark intensity, although I’m positive it hadn't been quite this intense all those years ago.
"So…" Carter begins, and I brace myself for whatever he's about to ask. He's in full asshole mode, so I need to be prepared. "Any jealous husbands you've left behind on this little fantasy joyride of yours?"
Quaid and Logan shoot him a look, but I can tell they both want to know the answer to Carter’s question. I’m the exact opposite, I have no interest in knowing who they have dated. I trust their integrity enough to know they haven’t left a wife behind, and at least for Quaid, it was easy to confirm that since he’s really never been seen with the same girl twice during his football career.
I turn my thoughts away from the many lovers I'm sure they've had over the years and think about my own pathetic dating history. There was Danny, a guy I met while at Oxford on a night out with some girlfriends. Danny was a bad boy and had been the distraction that I needed after leaving the guys. The nasty drug habit he'd had was quite the distraction, as was the stalking he did after I broke up with him upon finding him snorting coke in my bathroom right before he was supposed to meet my mother.
Then there had been Brian, the mistake I'd made after Danny. Brian was about as boring as watching paint dry, but I'd found him safe. He was so involved with his studies that he didn't even notice the fact that our relationship was progressing nowhere. Breaking up with him had been easy. I think it took him a week to realize that it happened.
There was no one serious during medical school. I was far too busy studying every second to have time for a relationship. It wasn't until residency that I tried again. Lucas was a doctor at the hospital. He'd fallen in love with me hard and fast, and for a while, I'd thought that he was the one, the one guy who could make me forget Logan, Quaid, and Carter.
But as soon as I found out I was sick, I'd dumped him. Because I couldn't spend my last days with someone that I didn't really love.
For some reason, I'd thought that spending the last year alone while I went through treatments had been the way to go. Looking at the three men who were still waiting expectantly for an answer, I think I was actually right.
I was going to feel lonely with whoever I was with if I wasn't with them. It had taken a while, but I'd finally realized that.
"Val?" Logan asks gently. Coming back to the present, I realize that all three of them obviously think that I do have some kind of husband that I left behind.
"Sorry, I do that sometimes," I murmur, my cheeks blazing. "And no, there's no husband…or boyfriend…or anyone actually waiting for me."
