Page 26 of Mended Hearts

“Still. Sucks though.”

She gave a little huff of a laugh. “Yeah. But here we are.”

“Here we are,” I agreed.

After a long moment, she sighed contentedly, relaxing against me.

Voice uncharacteristically soft, she said: “'Here' is not so bad.”

“No,” I whispered against her coconut-scented hair, notching up the volume to an even number. “No, it’s not.”

We watched the movie in silence.

Not the weighted silence of burdens shared—but the ease I’d come to expect from Leighton.

Because Leighton existed in a bubblewithoutexpectations. She was just... easy to breathe around. Easy tobearound. I didn’t have to have my game face on. Didn’t have to mind my p’s and q’s. Didn’t have to worry about what the press would say about me, or my status, or my family. Leighton couldn’t have cared less if she tried.

And for the first time since the accident, I felt myself truly relax.

Right up until Leighton’s laughing fit about halfway through the film, when Meg Ryan faked an orgasm in a crowded restaurant.

“You enjoyed that far too much,” I observed, grateful she couldn’t see how broadly I smiled at the sound of her unashamed cackling.

There was nothing refined about Leighton. She laughed with her whole body. She sang and danced and loved and fought with everything she had.

She was the polar opposite of my doormat of a mother, or my image-obsessed ex-wife.

Not once had I seen her make herself smaller to fit into someone else's box, or quiet herself for fear of waking the neighbors at half past midnight because she was laughing so hard she might piss herself.

I was a tremendous fan of her shamelessness. If I were honest, I envied her too.

A sentiment that only amplified with her next statement.

“The perk of only ever sharing my bed with a trusty silicone vibrator is I’ve never had to dothat,” she giggled, sighing as she caught her breath.

Every muscle in my body went on high alert, like I’d misinterpreted what she just said.

“Been a while?” I hedged, squeezing her shoulders.

“Pffft,” she scoffed. “Throbby Wand Kenobi serves me well whenever I please.”

“Throbby—”

“You heard me.”

“Is that?—”

“My vibrator? Yes.”

“Jesus Christ, Trouble.”

“I’m gonna start taking shots every time I make you say that.”

“You’ll never walk straight again at this point.”

“Good thing I’m stone-cold sober.”

“Pretty sure you’d go into immediate liver failure.”

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