Page 27 of Leah

“Did Leo and Jared make it?” I asked Rome, since he was the only person aside from Marlena that I felt comfortable around.

“Nah, they booked their own trips before I even had a chance to invite them over,” Rome answered. “It’s just Carter and me.”

Damn.

Now I really needed a way out of this.

I glanced again at thehappycouple, and I say the term very loosely because they were barely touching each other, or even talking. No, Molly was more interested in her cell phone that had been puked on by sparkling diamantes, and Carter was…still staring at me intently.

I felt my cheeks heat.

Why were things awkward?

We parted ways on a wonderful note.

He’d kissed me goodbye, and though he’d been broken up by it, he had also been ecstatic for the future.

Now it was like we were strangers.

That shouldn’t have been possible.

He should have gotten up and given me a hug! He should have asked me how I was doing, making silly jokes like we usedto. Instead, I got this strange indifference from him that had me feeling like I didn’t belong.

Was he pissed because of the letters? Because I’d never answered him?

I opened my mouth to say something to him, but my nerves acted like a noose around my neck. I was too chicken-shit.Story of my life.

Say something, Leah. I told myself.Maybe you need to break the ice. Speak now!

“I gotta go to the bathroom,” I muttered under my breath.

I bolted out of there and into the main bathroom, shutting it behind me. I stood there for a long time, staring at the door like it was a portal to hell. Then I glanced at my face and cringed at my complexion.

Yeah, totally shit looking.

Did I really have to look like this now?

I hadn’t seen Carter in three years. Our heartfelt departure still weighed on my being, and he had suddenly showed up out of nowhere, with arm candy I currently could not compete with, staring at me with such indifference, you’d think he loathed me!

When I thought of what our reunion would be like, it never came close to this. It involved rose petals and sandy beaches and doting smiles under a bright sun. And grovelling. Lots and lots of grovelling.

But never this.

I pulled my cell phone out and quickly dialled Mel. She’d know what to do.

“Hey, hooker. Bored yet? Come home. I can still put on some Jason Momoa,” she said straightaway.

“He’s here!” I whisper-yelled at her.

“Who? Jason Momoa? Holy shit, how’d you manage that?”

“No, not Jason Momoa!”

“Fuck.”

“Carter,” I hardly whispered into the phone.

“What?”

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