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That’d been the first time I went to Jojo’s over the summer.
This wasn’t the same. Vicky, Howard, Lo, Roger, Cynthia, Charlotte, Luna—they weren’t the same.
I looked at my face in the bathroom mirror. I could be someone worth not fucking it up with. I could. I’d come so far from being that twelve-year-old who’d dared to defy my mom and make a friend.
But I was still that person too.
My hair had been more blond back then, longer too. I swept it back and drew in a breath, seeing the fullness of my face. I was a woman now. I’d lived back then. I’d smiled. I’d laughed. I’d felt I could be happy and knew no reason why I couldn’t.
Life had shown me different.
It wasn’t all gone, though. I was strong. In mind and body, but not in my heart. That’d been shut off for so long.
Was I going to turn my heart back on?
“You gotta always make sure that light in there is shining and bright, as bright as you can make it. The world needs it.” My mom had pointed to my heart, her face lit up because my face was lit up when I told her about Jojo’s uncle, who told stories about trying to fire his newest employee who refused to be fired. Jojo’s uncle had said that by the end of his employee’s speech, he’d ended up hiring him back, only to fire him again the next day because he was four hours late.
I looked at where my heart was and touched there.
I sucked in a breath. I hadn’t thought about a light in there for so long.
There was a soft knock on the door. “You need anything else?”
It hurt right now, to feel my heart bursting because Brett could make me want to put the light back in there. But I knew this was a good pain to have.
I opened the door and found him waiting, his gruff eyes concerned. I smiled. “I’m ready.”
The universe wasn’t going to punish me because I let anyone in too close.
At least I hoped not, because I was already too far gone.
24
BRETT
My phone rang out through the room, and cursing, I checked the time before answering. Six in the morning. I muffled another curse before answering. “One second.” I slipped out of bed, glancing back, and then froze because Billie was awake.
She looked terrified.
“It’s someone from back home. This is probably about my sister, that’s all.”
She expelled a ragged breath, her eyes closing.
I frowned. “Babe.”
She blinked a few times before shaking her head. “I’m okay. Honestly. I’m okay.” Her eyes moved to my phone. “I hope everything is okay there too.”
Right. Home. My sister. I jerked out of my—whatever that had been. I was unsure, just knew I didn’t like my woman seeming like she’d seen a ghost. “I’ll be back. You want coffee or want to sleep some more?”
She grinned ruefully. “Coffee probably.”
“Okay.” I shut the door and brought the phone back up to my ear. “What the fuck, Monroe?”
He was laughing. “You crashed the date and you got the girl. That’s the Broudou I know.”
“Fuck you. You don’t know shit about me.” My lip twitched as I made my way downstairs and to the bathroom. “I’m muting myself for a second, but I can hear you just fine. Why are you calling?”
“Christ, you’re taking a piss, aren’t you?”
