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She shook her head without looking at me. “No, that’s okay.” She said it without a hint of the playful tone I was trying to pull out of her. She stood up and straightened out her dress before grabbing her purse and making her way to the front door. I hopped out of bed and reached her in two strides. She looked at me impatiently.
I grabbed her forearms. “Hey, you’re going to do great today. You know that, right?” She dropped her eyes and looked down at the floor. She was nervous. She was frustrated that she overslept, that she forgot to set her alarm. She’s regretting last night. Regretting the drinking, the staying out late, the distractions.
I don’t want her to regret me.
I moved one arm to her chin and tilted it up so her face would meet my eyes. “You are the smartest person in every room you walk into, including that conference. Just be yourself. By the end of the day, they’ll love you so much they’ll be begging you to attend Pepperdine.”
She smiled softly and nodded once. Her eyelashes batted and her lips pouted, and I wanted to kiss her.God, I want to kiss her.But she was in a hurry, and she was nervous and already overthinking things. Macie was still standing in the hallway staring at us. The moment wasn’t right. Instead, I moved my hands from her arms and slid them around her waist, pulling her into me. She sighed against my chest and one arm found my lower back. I kissed the top of her head and wished her luck. She smiled again and slipped through the front door without another word.
I turned back to Macie who was still staring from the door to her bedroom. I waited for her to make a comment, but she didn’t. Her face looked strained, almost sad. I watched her for a long moment before she blinked a few times and shook her head. It seemed as if she didn’t realize she had been watching us. Or that I was now watching her. She smiled once and retreated into her room.
? ? ?
“Sorry you had to drive all the way out here to get me,” I said to Dom as I climbed into his car. I took mental note of the fact that he was driving an Audi. Brand new, by the looks of it. “Pep had to take the rental car.”
He smiled at me and mouthed,Pep, before turning back to the road. “It’s all good. I’ve got something I wanted to show you in Venice anyway. Plus, I’m never going to complain about a drive along the PCH.”
“I wouldn’t complain about any drive in this car.”
He smiled at me again, his perfectly straight teeth gleaming. “Isn’t she pretty?”
I rolled my eyes but nodded. It had been over a year since the last time I saw Dom. We made a point of seeing each other at least that much. It was easier right after high school. He didn’t move right away, even after he did, we always made sure to go visit our parents at the same time. Until a couple of years ago when his parents moved to Arizona to be closer to family. Maybe even more than everything else, I moved back to the mainland for him. To make it easier to see him. As much as it hurt to admit, he was more a constant in my life than either of my parents. He was a lot of the reason I considered California as the place to come next.
We flew down the highway with the windows down. The aquamarine of the sea and the periwinkle of the sky clashed together, making the entire world a piercing azure. He looked at me again with a question in his expression, though his face was difficult to read with his eyes hidden behind his sunglasses. “So, Pep.”
I shook my head. “Can it wait until we get to the restaurant, please?”
“I’ve got somewhere I wanted to show you first.”
We spent the rest of the ride to wherever it was he was taking me, talking about his life here. His work as a realtor and his friends. All the things he’s seen and done. I know it’s a coveted way of convincing me to move down here. He’s been hung up on the idea ever since I mentioned it a few months ago. But damn if he wasn’t a good salesman. It was easy for Dom and I to fall back into our friendship. Bicker and joke as if no time had passed. There were no boundaries between the two of us. He may be the person who knows me better than anyone, which meant he already knew there was a larger conversation to be had about Penelope. He was the only person who knew the extent in which she’d haunted my dreams.
“So, Penelope’s friend, Macie,” he said after a few moments of silent driving. He didn’t look at me when he said it.
“She’s unavailable,” I stated.
“Yeah, well, her boyfriend’s a douchebag.”
I snorted. “He didn’t leave you with a great first impression?”
He shook his head. “What kind of idiot has a woman who looks likethatand leaves herto dance alone? He hardly even noticed her. If she’d been on my arm, I wouldn’t have been able to keep my hands off her. I would’ve been looking likeyouout there.”
I laughed. I shouldn’t have been surprised that Macie caught his eye. He always liked girls who glittered like she did. Girls who were loud, who demanded attention, and knew what they wanted out of life.
“For once, I agree with you on something. Jeremy doesn’t let her… sparkle?” I shook my head. That was the only way I could describe it.
Dom grunted.
He pulled into the carport behind what appeared to be a three-story apartment building off the highway. It was a white-washed building with blue shutters on every window. I could see the upper floors had two balconies on each side. Taking a closer look, it appeared the bottom part of the building may be some kind of retail space. Dom turned the car off and stepped out of it before throwing his arms out wide as if he was presenting it.
“Do you live here or something?” I asked.
“I wish I could afford to live on Venice Beach.”
I arched a brow and nodded toward the car. “You drive an Audi, dude.”
He chuckled. “I drive an AudibecauseI live in a dump.” He pulled out his keys and waved toward the backdoor of the building, beckoning me to follow. “Anyway, Tom and I have been talking. He wanted me to show you this.”
My father?
