Page 63 of If You Stayed

His smile stretched, and I fell for him more.

“Kierra?”

“Yes?”

“I really like the person that you are,” he echoed.

And just like that, I fell some more. Tripping, tumbling, spiraling for him.

And within that moment, I felt the strongest urge to tell him everything. To tell him about us. To tell him about Elijah. Because when love was real, secrets did not exist.

I swallowed hard and released a weighted breath. “Gabriel, there’s something I have to te—”

“Sorry if I’m interrupting,” a voice said from behind us, making me abandon my thoughts and slip back into reality. Ilooked over my shoulder to see Rosie standing there with a big, cheesy grin on her face.

I stood, and Gabriel followed.

“Rosie, hey. What are you doing here?” I asked, walking over to my friend.

“Wow,” she breathed out quietly. “Well, I’ll be.”

“Rosie,” I whispered before giving her a stern look. A look that read, “Act as normal as possible and don’t make this a thing.”

Unfortunately for me, Rosie would always make something a thing.

She poked her tongue in her cheek before saying, “My parents were finally clearing out their garage and found some old boxes you stored at their place during college. I just dropped those off with Ava. She told me you were back here with…?” She grinned from ear to ear, arching an eyebrow as she smiled toward Gabriel.

He stepped forward and held a hand out toward her. “Gabriel Sinclair. I’m the architect on the Hugheses’ project.”

Rosie shook his hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Gabriel.”

He laughed. “Hopefully good things.”

“Only the best.” Rosie was staring at him as if she’d just seen a ghost. I didn’t blame her. I, too, was in a state of shock when Gabriel made his return to my life. She placed her hands on her hips and shook her head in disbelief. “Wow, you’re handsome.”

“Rosie,” I said, nervously laughing.

“No, really. You’re damn handsome. And built.” Shewrapped her hand around his bicep, because the wordboundarieswas not in her vocabulary. “Do you work out?”

Gabriel kept laughing and flexed slightly. “Here and there.”

“Here and there,” Rosie snickered, nudging me. “Those aren’t here-and-there muscles. Those are always-there muscles.”

“Rosie!” I shouted, smacking her hand away from Gabriel. I felt my cheeks heating up from the whole exchange as I gave Gabriel an apologetic smile. “Sorry. My best friend has a lack of boundaries and tact.”

“Not everyone can be as humble and sweet as Kierra,” Rosie said. “Some of us are a bit more dickish.”

“I appreciate the honesty,” Gabriel stated. “Honestly, I don’t think most people are as humble and sweet as Kierra.”

“Damn straight. That’s why I always have to cuss people out on her behalf,” Rosie stated.

Gabriel smiled, seemingly unfazed by Rosie’s antics. Which only reminded me of how he put up with her when we were younger. It felt odd standing there with my two best friends. It was almost as if I’d stepped into a time machine and been sent back before tragedy took root in my life.

“You look kind of familiar,” Gabriel mentioned, arching an eyebrow toward Rosie.

Nerves bubbled in my gut as those words left his mouth.

Rosie didn’t seem moved at all and she struck a pose. “Well, you are looking at Channel 12’s weather girl in the flesh.”

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