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I stop at my parents’ house, needing to be held by them. Have my mom push food on me and my dad rub my shoulder and tell me he’s proud of me. Guilt swamps me thinking about how I’ve been in town for twenty-four hours and I haven’t seen them yet.
It’s been an eventful twenty-four hours.
But they aren’t home, so I head back through town and end up at Sara’s house.
She opens the door with a smile that falls as soon as she sees me. “Liv? What’s wrong?”
Panic laces her voice, and she wraps an arm around my shoulders.
I burst into tears because that’s all I’ve been able to do since Caleb left.
Sara brings me inside and settles me in her cozy living room,Greaseplaying on her TV. She brings me hot tea and lets me cry on her shoulder without a word.
When I finally feel like my eyes have run dry, I sniffle and sit back against the cushions.
She mutes the TV and shifts onto one hip, leaning her hand against the side of her face, watching me. When the silence stretches out, she sighs. “Okay, time to tell me why you showed up at my door in tears when I haven’t seen you cry in years.”
I run my thumb around the edge of the mug and swallow against the ball of emotion stuck in my throat. She brushes my hair off my shoulder, and I look over at her.
“Talk to me, Liv.”
“Caleb told me he’s in love with me.”
Her eyes widen for a moment and she bites her lip. “How did this come about?”
I blow out a breath and start at the beginning. I tell her about what happened with my job, how Samuel dumped me, and how in the moment I thought I was heartbroken but now I know I was more in shock than anything else. She replies with some colorful language and creative ideas about what she is going to do with Samuel’s dick if she ever crosses paths with him.
Once she calms down, I continue with how I got the call from Aidan telling me about Caleb’s accident and the horrible fear I felt thinking I’d lost him. How I drove all night to get here and see him to make sure he was okay. About going to the Silver Moon, and how jealous I was seeing him with those girls. Finally, I tell her how we ended up kissing in the alley, and everything else, all the way to this morning.
How he told me all the things I’ve always wanted to hear but gave up on a long time ago. And now I’m scared to believe him.
Her smile is soft. “This isn’t exactly breaking news to me.”
My eyes snap to hers. “What are you talking about? It’s news to me.”
“Well, then you haven’t been paying attention, dear sister.”
I sputter. “I’ve paid attention. There’s no way he’s been in love with me for two decades. It’s Caleb; he’s bold and holds nothing back.” It’s actually one of my favorite things about him.
I shake my head. “Besides, I’ve seen all the girls he’s dated since he moved here in high school. Tourists, locals, girls from towns over. Hell, I think he dated half the Homecoming court our junior and senior year.”
“Sure, and did you notice what the girls looked like when he did?”
I fold my arms over my chest and frown. “All blondes. What’s your point?”
Sara rolls her eyes with a sigh. “For someone so smart, sometimes you’re not very bright.”
“Gee, thanks, Sara. Why don’t you just kick me while I’m down?”
“They were blonde, silly, and shallow. The exact opposite of you.”
“And…?”
“My guess is he did that because he didn’t want to be reminded of what he couldn’t have. Like a defense mechanism.”
I sit with that for a moment, thinking back over the years we’ve been friends.
He’s always had a girl on his arm or in his bed. But now that I look back with clearer vision, I can’t recall a time when he ditched me for one of them. Even yesterday morning, he kicked a hot, half-dressed chick out of his house when I showed up unannounced.
