Page 122 of Limbo

“Just tell me.”

He stares down at me, dramatically pausing. “Law school at UPenn.”

“You’re kidding,” I say, convinced he’s screwing with me. The goal was to convince his parents to let him doanythingother than law school at UPenn. He isn’t answering me, and I realize he’s serious. “After everything? Exactly what your parents expected all along?”

“Technically, but I’m not doing it for them. Or the financial support they’ll provide. Or the outrageous amount of money I can earn, working for one of my father’s connections.”

“Then why?” I ask, curious how he spun in a complete one-eighty since last night.

“Because you, Callie Henders, are my muse.”

I roll my eyes. “Smooth answer.”

“Real answer.” He gently kisses me, pulling back too soon. “You helped me discover what I want to do with my life. My passion, if you will.”

Not sure how that’s possible, I guess what he wants to practice. “Corporate law?” He makes a face, so I try again. “Mergers and acquisitions?”

“Absolutely not,” he says, tracing his fingers up my arm. “I’m more interested in child advocacy. Custody agreements, termination of parental rights, neglect and abuse cases. You’d be amazed at the shit people get away with regarding their children. Someone needs to give them a voice. Who knows? I might even pursue a judgeship one day. I’d hate to limit my future options. I mean—”

I kiss him, unable to keep my lips off his for another second.

Call it fate or destiny or whatever, but sometimes, the people we never knew we needed appear at the exact right moment in our lives. In the case of Jordan Waters, that someone crashed his way in whether or not I wanted him to. Luckily, he also refused to leave. He’s my reminder of the other side of the coin. The one where the small moments change everything for the better.

He breaks his mouth away from mine. “Seriously, beautiful, you can’t just kiss me to end the long-winded and at times overly wordy speech I’ve…”

That’s all he says before he cups my cheek in his hand and lowers his lips back to mine. And that time, they stay there. At least, they do until the curtain rips back. We both look at Pete.

“You guys win. I’m leaving. Cal, I’ll see you in the morning.” He flips off Jordan on his way out. “Sleep tight, cupcake.”

I laugh, and Jordan narrows his eyes. “You think this is funny? I’m becoming friends with the guy.”

“Everyone ends up liking Pete,” I tell him.

He sighs. “I really wanted to be an exception.”

“You’re my exception if it makes you feel any better.”

“Possibly.” He gazes down at me. “It depends on what I’m the exception to.”

“Everything,” I say against his lips. “You are my exception to everything.”

I’ve been out of the hospital for over a month when Jordan pulls up to the house. Even though Graham’s truck is long gone in a junk pile somewhere, I still expect to see it sitting there. Rusty bumper and all.

A lot has happened since the last time I was here. Graham took a plea deal for three counts of aggravated assault and another for child abuse after the DA talked to Connor. With quite a few years ahead of him in prison, he signed over his assets to Kevin, which includes the house. Since my uncle plans to sell it, he’s kept up on the mowing and fixed the screen door, so the outside looks the same as always. But it feels different. Unlike the place I’ve lived since I was born. Maybe because now it’s where I almost died.

“Hey,” Jordan says. He pulls my hand away from my neck. I didn’t even realize I had been touching the all but faded marks. He brings it across my body and kisses my fingers as he does when I feel for them.

“You don’t have to be here. We’re just packing boxes and junking stuff.”

I take a deep breath and nod. “I know.”

He worries that going inside will bring back the nightmares. I haven’t woken in a panic for four consecutive days—the longest I’ve gone.

After he studies me a few seconds, he leans over and presses his lips to mine. “Let’s do this then.”

His fingers lock with mine on our way up the steps. No one else is here yet, which is what I told him I wanted. A few minutes alone. Now that he’s pulling open the screen door, I wonder if it would be easier with bodies everywhere and loud voices swarming around instead of silence and emptiness.

He turns the key in the lock and twists the knob, then he stops. “Callie, are you sure—”

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