Page 97 of Villainous Summer

“Van said he loves me.”

“The guy you were dating to get back at Cory?”

“That’s not—he’s not.” I blew out air through my nose. “Things changed between us recently, and I—” I paused, a hundred different questions running through my mind. “After what happened with your ex, how were you able to trust someone again?”

Wren huffed out a large breath. “Adrian and Buck couldn’t be less similar. That helps. For me, it was feeling more like myself with Adrian over a single weekend than I ever did with Buck over our years-long relationship. I liked myself more. And Adrian liked me—loves me. As that person. All the things I felt I had to hide or diminish to be the right kind of girlfriend. I don’t need to do that with Adrian. Plus, the sex is better than anything.”

“Okay, okay. Enough about your orgasms,” I grumbled.

“You’re not me, though, Sum. I can’t tell you how to feel, but I will say that the right man for you is the one who can handle all of you, embracing every part of what makes you so special.”

“But if it doesn’t work out—”

“But if it does—” Wren paused, gathering her words, like she’d always done. “Summer, you build up this armor around yourself, as if being vulnerable would make you less than. But it’s not true. You deserve someone who loves you exactly as you are. Truly.”

Truly.

Truly.

Never had Van seemed the type to give falsehoods. If he said he was falling for me, he was.

Truly, truly, truly.

The words ricocheted around my head.

Not only was he a man of his word but a man of his actions. Never had had he done something contrary to his words.

Truly.

“I got to go. I’ll call you—”

“Talk to you in a few weeks.” She laughed.

I stopped at the store, buying two dozen banana-flavored taffy sticks and a ribbon.

Whoever said men can’t receive bouquets?

I tied them together, admiring my work.

It might have been silly, but I knew Van would appreciate the thought, an apology of sorts. I decided against going home to change.

No, I wanted to meet him in his space. To go back to where this all began and start anew.

Romancing someone was a new feeling for me. Sure, I had been taken out, had flowers and wooing, and all the stuff. But to declare yourself to someone? To apologize for being too stubborn to see the beautiful affection blooming between us until it was almost too late? To win him back? Those were new.

Arriving earlier than him before he could get off work, I hesitated in the driveway, almost talking myself out of going in.

But I could do this. I could be brave. I could take this risk.

The door was, unsurprisingly, unlocked. He really needed to be more careful about that. For the second time this summer, I let myself in the front door.

The hallway looked the same as that day in the middle of June.

From under the kitchen sink, I pulled out a milk glass vase and arranged the banana taffy bouquet in it before placing it on his counter.

Outside, boots stomped on the porch, and keys jingled.

Maybe I was wrong. He must have seen my text and left early.

---