Page 189 of Don't Leave Me

“I was so worried about him for so long. He’s never really been stable in anything, and now he’s got you and it seems like his life is turning up,” she admitted to me with a sweet smile. My heart nearly broke into a million pieces.

Jack never had anything stable in his life it seemed – his dad died when he was young, he moved around in Wales while doing heroin, he apparently didn’t have support from his family except for Jessica for so long, and then moved to a whole new city in a new country to start from scratch. He obviously wasn’t doing well before all of this: he was in a rocky band relationship with John and Adam, and then he kept getting his heart broken over and over again by me. He couldn’t handle it and nearly killed himself. And then I gave him hope again: a weird, twisted sense of hope, but he somehow managed to catch my heart again, despite all of this. My heart ached because I knew that I dealt a hand in this; I was the cause of his suffering in the past. I hated myself for that. I had to make it up to him now.

“You don’t need to worry about him anymore, Laura. I’m not going anywhere. I will take care of him, I’ll be sure of it,” I assured her, resting my hand atop her arm for a moment.

Jack looked down at me and his eyes seemed to be tearing up again. I couldn’t handle how emotional we both were at that moment.

“I mean it, Jack. I love you,” I whispered to him, a tear falling from my cheek.

“I love you, my sweet Hana,” he put his hand to my face and pulled me in a for a sweet kiss, a tender one that he had rarely given me – most of our kisses were passionate, fervent, a sudden urge; this one was sweet and thoughtful.

“I hate to pull you away, Han, but can we get some pictures of me and you and your parents? They’re looking lonely over by the bar,” Emily put her hand on my arm, interrupting the moment between me and Jack.

I looked at Emily then back at Jack.

“Go on, sweetheart. I’ll mingle for a bit,” he smiled at me, giving me permission in the subtlest of ways.

Emily and I headed towards the other side of the room where my parents were, and where I suddenly noticed where Billie was as well. She was laughing with my mom and dad, whom she’d only met a handful of times, but it seemed like they were all the best of friends. She had a way of doing that.

“Hey, bug,” my dad greeted me happily as he noticed us walking over.

“Hey. What are you guys laughing about?” I smiled, looking between them all.

“Your friend Billie here is quick as a whip,” my dad laughed, obviously a few whiskeys in, and I turned to Billie and gave her a smile with furrowed brows.

“I don’t even know,” Billie laughed, giving me the same puzzled look.

Emily took mine and Billie’s hand. “Come on, let’s get a picture of you two,” she declared, pulling us slightly away from my parents.

“Oh,” Billie seemed startled as Emily practically pushed us together, probably just wanting everyone to make peace but forcing it a little too hard.

I turned to Billie and smiled. “Feels like prom all over again,” I teased, and to my delight she laughed a sincere laugh and put her arm around me.

“You’re a little cuter than my prom date,” she raised her eyebrows, and I could see Emily taking pictures, taking advantage of the moment.

“Aunt Jemma, could you take a picture of us three, please?” Emily asked my mom as she handed her her phone.

My mom was the more tech-savvy of my parents and Emily knew that. Emily squeezed next to me on the opposite side of Billie and took my hand, then we all waited for our picture to be taken.

“Oh, these are lovely,” Jack appeared next to my mom, smiling at us but I’m sure worried that I was so close to Billie without him.

“Okay, I think I got it,” my mom handed the phone back to Emily.

I watched as Jack and my parents started to chat, then Laura and Jeremy came up to join the conversation, stealing Jack’s attention. I think Billie could tell that he was distracted – she turned to me and smiled.

“You two seem really happy,” she mused, observing me in her usual way.

“We are. We really are,” I nodded, smiling as I turned to look over at Jack – I was still nervous that he would think I was trying to say something incriminating to her.

“He doesn’t trust you with me, does he?” she asked, almost knowingly.

My heart dropped. How did she know me, knoweverything, so well? I frowned and shook my head at her.

“No, he does. He just thinks you’re the link between me and Michael. He’s still worried I’ll go back to him,” I lied, the words falling so easily from my mouth.

Billie nodded but didn’t seem convinced. “Areyouworried about that?”

I gave her a puzzled look. “No. I married Jack, not Michael,” I responded almost defensively.

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