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She laughs as she steps in stride with me. “I’m surprised you aren’t running at a full sprint. We all know where you’re going and why.”
“I just want to be sure she’s okay.”
“And that’s all?” Mackie asks with a knowing smile. “You don’t have anything important to tell her?”
I slow down slightly. “I was going to wait for Charleston.”
She nods. “I get that. Just… make sure you’re not hiding it from her. It’ll hurt you both if you do.”
“You think I should tell her now?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t know much of anything other than you should trust your heart. And trust her. Even if it’s a little rough before you get there, you’ll make it to the other side. Youknowthat.”
She slows to a stop and holds her arms out. Reluctantly, I stop too, and she gives me a hug, then nods toward our block.
“Go on. I’m tired of trying to keep up.”
I give her a sloppy kiss on the cheek and start jogging.
“Thanks Macks!” I call back as I run.
No idea what I’m going to say, but either way, if she’s having a bad day, I want to be there for her. And if she’s not? Well, maybe it’s time for me to put it all out there. We’ll still have plenty ofrekindlingto do in Charleston.
Rae
“Thanks for this morning. I needed it,” I say to Miles.
He wraps his arms tightly around me outside the gate to the deck stairs. “We all need each other. And sometimes we need those individual moments with each other. I’ve always got your back, kid.”
I give him a big smile and unlock the gate. “Wanna hang for a bit?”
“Sure,” he says with a smile. I pull it open, then he says, “Uh, maybe not.”
I look at him, confused. He nods toward the stairs where Aaron is sitting. I swear it’s only when things are messy between us that I find him sitting there like that. I exchange a glance with Miles as Aaron stands up.
“Yeah. I’ll see you later.”
He leans in close and whispers, “You’re badass. Open that heart.” He kisses the side of my head, then throws his hand up in a wave to Aaron before turning and leaving. Aaron looks at me expectantly as I force myself up the stairs. I get to the top and walk past him toward the window. I’m not ready for this. There’s a reason I wanted space this morning, and a drive with Miles didn’t magically make me ready for a conversation with Aaron.
“Hey,” I say, trying to keep the emotion from my voice. “What are you doing here?”
He follows me as I walk toward the window. “You weren’t at breakfast. I wanted to check and see if you were okay.”
What is okay?
“I’m fine,” I say way too quickly.
“No, you’re not. Why are you lying to me?”
The crankiness in his voice instantly irritates me. “Fine. I’m not. I woke up and was having a shitty morning. I wanted some time alone because I didn’t want to be around everyone while I was in a crappy mood. Then Miles was nice enough to bring me breakfast. He saw I wasn’t sleeping and took me for a drive,” I say, sliding the window up. I turn to face him. He’s looking at me with concern, but something else, too. Frustration, maybe?
He stares at me for a moment before asking, “Do you want to talk about it?”
“No,” I say quickly. I’m already at the edge of the emotional cliff. A few wrong words and I’ll be falling into the abyss.
I climb inside my room and immediately regret doing so because, of course, he follows me. Which was the opposite of what I wanted. He cares. I love that he cares—that he wants to pull me out of this bad space I’m in. But he can’t do it for me. Especially when that bad space is related to him. But how the hell do I say that?
He narrows his eyes and tilts his head. “What’s going on?”
