Page 94 of If You Stayed

“Just call me whenever you’re ready.”

“I doubt I could afford you,” he joked.

“I’ll give you the friends and family discount.”

Joseph laughed. “I’ll hold you to that. Cheers, brother,” he said, tapping his beer bottle against mine. Before he left, hesaid one more thing that stayed with me. “You know the difference? Between you and Henry?”

“What’s that?”

“He only speaks kind things of Kierra when they are in crowds. He’s loud about it around other people. You speak so kindly of her quietly, sincerely. And if I’m good at reading people, which I believe I am, I bet you speak that kindly of her within your thoughts, too.”

***

As the party continued, people grew more and more intoxicated. I still hadn’t had a chance to speak to Henry, but as more time moved by, I figured Kierra’s birthday party wasn’t the best opportunity to have it out.

Every time I looked over at Kierra, her smile was stretched wide, and she seemed surrounded by the people she loved most. It was a very different crowd than Henry’s dinner party. Everyone seemed genuinely more friendly and welcoming. There was a warmth about the whole situation, and I was glad she was able to have that level of joy. I was happy to see that the attention was only on her.

She found her way back over to me at one point. She was a little tipsy and had a goofy smile of delight on her face. “Guess what,” she said, swaying to the jazz music filling the room.

“What’s up?”

“I’m happily drunk.”

“I love that for you.”

“I love you, too,” she replied. Even drunk, she realized her words and shook her head. “I mean, I love that for me, too. I mean… Well, you know what I mean. I didn’t mean… Well, you know.”

I chuckled. “I know what you meant.” Even if I wished she meant what she’d said, I knew what she meant.

“Now, one question for you. A very serious question,” she said.

“Okay. Shoot.”

She leaned in closer. “Do you think I’m allowed to go change out of this dress now? Because I think my measurements were a little off and it’s a little too tight and I just want to change into sweatpants so I can eat more pizza.”

“It’s your birthday. You can change out of anything you want.”

She placed her hands against her hips and sighed heavily. “Okay, good because one more inhale, and the seams would bust and my butt would be on full display.”

As if that’s a bad thing, Kierra.

“I’ll be back,” she said, hurrying up the stairs. I watched her backside the whole time she exited, too. It didn’t take long for her to return, though. Yet when she emerged from around the corner, she was still wearing that amazing red dress. The only issue was she looked as if she’d seen a ghost. Her eyes were wide with panic, and I couldn’t help but walk closer to the staircase to see what was wrong.

Before I could begin to walk up the steps, I saw a panickedRamona hurrying over to Kierra’s side, pulling up the strap of her dress. My head tilted as confusion filled me. That was until Henry emerged behind her, buttoning up his shirt. Unlike Ramona, he didn’t seem panicked at all. He seemed smug.

It was right then that I knew exactly what had taken place.

“Kierra, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for you to see that. I mean, I didn’t mean for…” Ramona began rambling.

Kierra didn’t look at her for one second. Instead, her head rose and I caught her stare. She blinked once, and the pure shock on her face made my heart shatter into a million pieces. I couldn’t imagine how her own heart felt. How much betrayal could a heart endure before it simply gave up on beating?

Henry scolded her, instead of apologizing. “Don’t make a damn scene, will you, Kierra? You’re always making a damn scene. Tonight has been perfect. Don’t mess that up with your dramatics.”

With her dramatics?

Oh, fuck this guy.

She turned to him, almost robotically, and said, “Fuck you, Henry.”

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