Page 61 of Promise Me

“He didn’t. I’m staying with Hudson for a while.”

She pauses with her pizza halfway to her mouth.

“I heard that, but I didn’t really believe it,” she says. She takes a bite and chews slowly.

“So, what’s it like living with the sworn enemy?”

I love how she asks it as if … as if this is just another day for her, and we are just picking up where we left off. Like we are best friends. Which we are, of course.

My heart swells.

“Well”—I take a giant bite—“have we ever talked about his abs?”

Brooke erupts into a fit of laughter. “We have, but you usually talk about them with disgust. I have a feeling that’s not the case today.”

“It’s not.” I relax back into my chair. “It’s definitely not.”

“So, are you two becoming friends now?”

“I think so. I hope so.”

This time, her smile is sly.

“What’s that face? I should probably know what it means, but you know, I don’t.”

Her smile falters for a fleeting moment, but then grows into a full-fledged grin. “Wait here.”

She dashes from the room, and I twist to see where she went, but she’s out of sight. I finish my slice before she makes it back.

She drops about ten books on the table and then sits.

“Okay, we don’t really have to talk about what happened to you if you don’t want to. It sucks. Pure sucks. I’ve missed you, and I’m sorry I didn’t reach out. I didn’t think you’d remember our friendship, and I wanted you to have space from everyone expecting you to remember them.”

I stick my bottom lip out because the way she’s looking at me makes me want to cry.

I lean forward to hug her. “I don’t, but twenty minutes here, and I already know that I’d pick you over and over again.”

Her eyes start to glaze, and so do mine.

“Okay, I won’t cry, but I’d pick you too.”

Before we become two crying messes, I point to the books. “Are these your favorites?”

She tosses her head back on a groan, but when she looks at me, she’s still smiling. “This is going to sound so messed up, but a reader’s dream is to read their favorite books for the first time all over again, and you get to do that.” She taps the pile. “These are all your favorite enemies-to-lovers books over the last few years. Oddly enough, it’s your favorite trope these days.”

“They are?” I grab the one off the top and read the blurb. A male romance writer who marries his enemy in Vegas, and she just so happens to be his best friend’s little sister. “Oh, this sounds good.”

“That’s why it’s on the top. Take them with you. Enjoy reading them again while you can.”

“Don’t I have copies at home?”

“Probably, but you prefer e-books, and Linc said you shouldn't look at a screen more than necessary for a while.”

I nod. “Do you talk to my brother a lot?”

She shakes her head. “He called to check in on me and kept me up to date on some things while I was gone.”

“That was nice of him.”

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