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“Now, listen here,” I begin. “For starters, we went to the Grady Fall Festival with everybody else in town. I don’t necessarily think of that as a date. Believe me, when I take you out, I plan on being much more special.”
“And you didn’t ruin shit. It’s okay to feel bad sometimes, and it’s okay to be sad. And I’ll be here to help you come out on the other side.”
A whisper of a smile crosses her lips. “I don’t deserve you.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because I have more baggage than a metaphorical airport. And instead of dealing with all of it as it comes, I shove it all down and pretend I’m fine. Then, later on, it crashes down on me like a ton of bricks.”
“Jenna, everyone handles things in different ways.”
“Or, in my case, not at all.”
I tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Then, we’ll deal with that too.”
She lays back down, so her head is back on my chest. After another pause, she says, “I was doing okay until I saw Macey with her friends. All my friends from the team were the hardest thing for me to leave behind, but since I left, I haven’t let myself think about them long enough to miss them.”
“Tell me about them,” I say, stroking her arm with my fingertips.
Her head lifts slightly as though she’s unsure if she heard me correctly. “What?”
“Your friends…the girls from the team. Tell me about them.”
“What do you want to know?” She asks.
“Whatever you want to tell me, Sunshine. Tell me some good memories you have of each of them.”
It takes her a minute to get going, but once she does, she tells me all about all of them and the fun times they used to have. I’m a little envious because I’ve never had friends I was that close with. Even when I was growing up, I just sort of did my own thing.
I have no idea how long I listen to her, but I hang on every word. If It’s important to her, it’s important to me.
When she goes quiet again, I don’t say anything, not knowing if she has more to say.
I’m surprised when she says, “Thank you.”
“For?”
“For asking about them and listening while I rambled on. It made me remember the good without focusing on the bad.”
I kiss the top of her head. “Anytime, Sunshine.”
Another moment goes by, and she looks up at me. “Shane, I’m not very good at the sappy stuff or expressing my emotions, so I’m just going to say…I love you.”
I’m completely taken aback because I wasn’t expecting that.
But I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to hear three little words in my entire life.
I take the pad of my thumb and rub it across her cheek. “I love you too, Sunshine. So fucking much.”
And damnit, I mean it with every fiber of my being.
Chapter Thirty
Jenna
My eyes flick open and struggle to stay that way as I take in the room around me. A sliver of light creeps through the curtains, slightly illuminating my bedroom.
The large arm draped over me slightly twitches before pulling me in closer. I realize Shane is behind me, holding me like the little spoon.
