Page 20 of Like First Love, Again

“That depends.” Mia tried to look cool, but couldn’t help smiling. “Are you keeping anything else from me?”

The question weighed three metric tons. The answer struggled against the heavy chains keeping it pinned to the ocean floor. Fought like it was burning to breathe again. To have just one chance to break the surface. To see light again, even for the most fleeting moment. Tori didn’t let it gain a millimeter of freedom.

“Something that Ashley knows?” Tori rode the fine edge of technical truth. “No.”

Mia opened her mouth, but whatever she was going to say got cut off by Tori’s ringing phone. Looking down at her screen, Tori silenced her mom’s call.

“You have those forms or what?” Tori rocked on the balls of her feet.

Mia raised her brows, drawing Tori’s attention to the scar at the edge. Her thumb tingled like it was running over the divot inher skin rather than getting jammed in her pocket along with her phone.

“Aren’t you coming in for breakfast?” Mia stepped away from the open door and gestured for Tori to follow.

“Jesus,” Tori muttered when her phone rang again. “Hang on.”

She turned away from Mia and answered. In rapid succession, her mom fired off more stuff to add to her list. Putting the call on speaker, she opened her notes app and tacked more ice and beer to the end.

“Sounds like you’re going to quite the party,” Mia said when Tori turned back to the door. “I haven’t seen your family in so long,” she added with the subtlety of a rocket launcher.

“Yeah, well.” Tori chuckled. “That would be pretty weird if you were hanging out with them and not me.”

Mia brightened. “It would be nice to see Rita again.”

Tori bit the inside of her cheek when she tipped her head to the side. “Are you angling for an invite to a very loud and probably chaotic backyard barbecue?” She made a point of looking into Mia’s house while wearing unabashed judgment. “With all this work you have left to do?”

“Yeah, yeah.” She turned on her heels and went inside like she expected Tori to saunter in behind her. “It’ll still be here when I get back.” She was deep in the air-conditioned recesses of her house when she shouted, “You might as well come inside and stop letting in every mosquito in Dade County.”

With a chuckle to herself that said what-the-hell-are-you-doing-with-your-life, Tori stepped inside. While Mia was getting dressed, Tori went to the kitchen. She grabbed the metal cup sitting on the edge of the stovetop. There was still some foam left on top of the espresso. From the little rack on the counter, Tori took a tiny cup and poured some lukewarm Cuban coffee.

She winced at the taste. It was way too sweet and a little weak. Tori was going to tease Mia about it, ask if her time in Philly had made her forget what good cafecito tasted like. But then Mia was back and wearing a loose dress that showed off her shapely, tanned legs and Tori forgot how to breathe.

Blowdried, Mia’s hair was vibrant red like she’d just dyed it. It cascaded beyond her freckled shoulders. Lips painted a glossy pink curved into a smile before they turned unsure.

“Before we go,” Mia started, voice soft as she crossed into the kitchen, “I just wanted to say something. If that’s okay?”

All Tori had in her was a nod weaker than Mia’s attempt at espresso. Mia’s perfume was different now, but the effect it had on the sturdiness of her knees was the same. It was the first time she’d been that close without crying, and Tori wasn’t prepared for the clench in her stomach and the flutter in her chest.

“I’m sorry,” Mia whispered, eyes brimming with emotion. “I’m sorry I didn’t make you feel safe enough to share such a big part of who you are with me.” Mia’s palms were warm and destabilizing when they landed on Tori’s jaw. Her expression was so gentle. So sincere. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t a better friend. I should have?—”

“It’s not on you,” Tori managed around the tightness in her throat and the trembling in her fingers. “It was my choice, Mia.”

Mia’s faint smile sputtered to life, then faltered. “Are you just saying that because?—”

“I’m saying it because it’s true,” she interrupted. Tori couldn’t stand the sadness lingering in her eyes. “Let’s just move on, okay? Start brand-new.”

“Start over, but not all the way over so that freaking Ashley knows you better than me?”

Tori laughed, entire body alive and buzzing. Lost in the mossy green of Mia’s eyes, she remembered how to breathe again. “Yeah.

Ten

Tori’s parents’ house was a vibrant contrast to the relative silence Mia had been living in. She didn’t hear the loud salsa music echoing in the suburban neighborhood as much as she felt it vibrating through her feet and resonating in her chest.

The cars parked on both sides of the street banished her concern that all the stuff jammed in Tori’s trunk was an exaggeration. She forgave her own skepticism. It had been years since she’d been to an event with a whole roasted pig and enough booze to make a bootlegger blush.

“Change your mind?” Tori asked, forearms flexing from carrying two cases of beer while they walked around the side of the house.

Mia shifted the bag of ice in her right hand to cradle it in her left. She let the grocery bags slide down to her elbow when she grabbed the handle on the weathered wooden gate leading to the backyard.

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