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Me: What are you up to tonight?
Caity: About to go mini-golfing with Aiden. They painted the giant elephant on the golf course a different color. I’m hearing something about glitter.
Me: LOL nice. Take a picture for me.
Without waiting for a response, I shove my phone back in my pocket and turn my gaze back to Rae, who is walking away from Joel across the backyard. Scratch that. She’s trying to sneak away. I exchange another glance with Sarah, letting her know I’m going after her, and jog across the backyard. On the way, Joel stops me.
“She says she’s tired and going home to ‘sleep.’” He uses finger quotes around the word. Shouldn’t be surprised he knows she’s lying, too. He shakes his head softly. “She was pretending to sleep in the chair. I tried to convince her to take a nap upstairs, but she wouldn’t budge. She probably wants to be alone.”
I sigh. “Probably. But she’s been—”
“I know,” Joel agrees. “Go on.”
I give him a nod and start jogging toward her again.
“Hey, wait up!” I yell, just as she gets to her backyard.
She stops and bristles, then turns to me with a forced smile.
“Hey.”
This isn’t going to be easy.
But nothing worth it is ever easy. And damn it, she’s worth it. Helping her heal is worth every hard moment.
Time to fight.
Rae
“Where you going?”
I look at Aaron, trying to keep a not-overly-forced smile on my face. But also trying to look as exhausted on the outside as I feel emotionally.
“Home. I’m crazy tired. Just want some sleep.”And to crawl in a hole.
His brow furrows. Then he smiles and slings his arm over my shoulders. “Okay, then I’m tired, too.”
“Aaron.”
His eyes widen at the intensity of my voice.Shit.
I clear my throat and force a smile. “I’m really tired.”
He sighs and shakes his head. “You’re lying.”
Tears threaten, but I push them down. “How about you just walk me home?”
His eyes roll over my face, but he relents. “Okay.” He pulls me closer, and my heart thumps, emotion creeping in. The pain I’ve been trying to keep at bay threatens to break the dam in the safety of Aaron’s arms.
I breathe slowly, trying to calm myself. I just need to hold the broken pieces of me together a bit longer.
When we get to my window, I lean against it as if trying to body block him from entering. If he comes in, I will fall apart. And I can’t. I don’t want to. It’s too much.
He steps in close and runs his hands down my arms. He stares at me for a moment, doing the thing where he looks into my eyes and then right into my soul. His brow furrows, and he shakes his head. “Please let me in,” he whispers.
“I’m okay.”
Liar, liar, pants on fire.
