Page 51 of My Promise To Keep

‘I have indeed,’ Leo replies before coming to stand right next to me, making me freeze, and my lungs forget how to work. He reaches across me and grabs the bottle opener — which was right in front of me the whole time. ‘There you go, munch.’ He hands it to me. ‘I want to settle down, get serious, but I know I have some work to do to show the right woman I’m capable of that when I’ve never done it before.’

‘Well, you’re a catch, Leo Bennett,’ Mama says, that caring, loving tone in her voice, ‘the right woman is just waiting for you, and she’d be a fool to let you get away.’

He laughs and puts his arm around her shoulder again.

‘Thanks, Lynnie. I think so, too.’

Grabbing a bottle of beer, I head out onto the front porch and find Bree texting, a serious look on her face. The rain is still coming down, pouring off the porch roof and running down the hill of Cara’s drive in a constant stream.

‘What’s wrong with you?’ I ask, and my twin pockets her phone as she turns to me.

‘Nothing, you?’

I take a breath and turn back to the house to check I closed the door.

‘Leo.’ She raises her eyebrows and glances toward the kitchen window as his laugh filters out. ‘I need a girls’ night, Bree.’

Smiling, my sister nods just once.

‘I got you.’

What’s Going On?

Zoe

Two weeks. I don’thear a thing from Leo in two whole weeks, and then he just shows up at the party, looking completely perfect and delicious.

I feel on edge, like I’m waiting but have no idea what I’m waiting for.

Is he going to ask me out again? Did he decide I was too much trouble? What if he hooked up with someone while he was gone and decided she’s a better choice? What if I keep waiting andhe doesn’t come back to me? I keep looking out of my window, wondering if he’s going to be standing outside my house with a boombox above his head or something, and as ridiculous as that would be, I’m disappointed every time he’s not there.

The thing is, I don’t even know for sure what I want. If he turned up asking me out again, would I say yes?

I can’t stop thinking about him, and it’s driving me insane.

‘What is up with you?’

Missy asks from the floor, and I blink my attention into the room to find them all staring at me.

‘Oh, honey, wherever you just were, it looked painful.’ Bree smiles, but her eyebrows pinch.

‘You were away with the fairies. You okay?’ Cara’s sweet Scottish accent makes me take a breath.

‘I’m fine, sorry. I just haven’t been sleeping too good.’

‘For good reasons?’ Missy waggles her eyebrows suggestively, and I shrug, then hold out my glass for her to refill my wine.

‘Just insomnia. I don’t know why, but I know I’m tired.’

‘Have you tried masturbation?’

All attention snaps to Cara, who flushes an adorable shade of pink.

‘Oh my god, my brother turned you into a menace,’ Bree teases, and I laugh. When we met Cara, she’d never had an orgasm and never even considered touching herself, and now she’s freely suggesting it as a sleeping pill.

‘I just, it’s…’

We all laugh as Cara covers her face with a cushion. I love this. I grew up mostly hanging out with guys. Bree was my only real girlfriend, and she is my twin. Now we have friends. Cara came into our lives, and we immediately clicked, and now we know for sure she’ll be our sister one day, as there’s not a chance in hell she and Doug won’t get married. And then there’s Missy, and my god, do I love that woman. She’s what my grandma would call alittle firecracker — small but packs a hell of a punch. She’s funny as hell, but she has the biggest heart. We don’t get to see her as much as we’d like because she doesn’t live in town, and she has a little boy and a jackass ex to deal with, but I’m so thankful that we have them.

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