Page 168 of Zero Chance

From there, we were complete fools, drenching her pants and the skirt of my dress until we couldn’t stay in the water a moment longer without literally freezing our toes off as Keene had predicted.

We glanced toward the guys to discover they’d actually gotten the fire started.Their two silhouettes stood around the flames, their hands masculinely shoved in their pockets as they talked.

“Tell me everything,” Xander demanded, hooking her arm back through mine to draw me down the beach instead of toward the campfire.“But skimp on the bedroom details, will you?I don’t needthatmuch information.”

I laughed and leaned into her, then took another drink before saying, “He had candles set up all around his room.”

Xander gasped.“No.KeeneDuggerdid that?”

“Yes.”Nodding, I claimed, “I kid you not.And he got me a dozen roses, and ooh.Check out this necklace.”

I showed her my horseshoe, and she cooed over it appropriately before tilting her head to the side so she could rest it against mine.“I’m so happy for you, Frankie.I must say, I had my doubts when you two started this whole thing, but I think he legit likes you.A lot.”

My chest warmed at her words.I didn’t want to risk believing them and getting my hopes up, but I couldn’t help it.I kind of thought she might be right.He was just so attentive and amazing.

Scared to voice my hopes aloud, I sipped, then nudged her with an elbow.“What about you?”I asked with a teasing hint in my voice.“I caught a bit of you andAleceating Twix together on the couch.”

“Yeah.”She sighed, only to shudder and wrap her blanket more securely around her.“He’s amazing.And handsome.And sweet.And dorky.But…”

Feeling a maudlin shroud descend on her, I made a face and said, “Liam.”

“Yeah,” she mumbled miserably.“A part of me is still waiting for that jerk to come back, which seems like it’s not fair to poor Alec because he’s just so…”

“Amazing,” I repeated her own words from two seconds earlier.

She snickered and bumped into me.“Alec deserves someone who’s so completely gone for him that she does ridiculous, romantic things like fill their room with candles, not some heartbroken girl who’s still stuck on the past and can’t stop glancing back, waiting for some loser she probably wouldn’t even like anymore to show back up in her life.”

I nodded and took a big gulp before squeezing my grip on her arm.“Maybe you’ll be able to let go of Liam soon.”

“Maybe,” she murmured, sounding depressed.

And it struck me then how a person didn’t have to die for you to mourn them.Recalling the look of stark pain on Thane’s face when I’d mentioned Nova’s name to him, I blinked, suddenly realizing why life had always been more terrifying to me than death.

Because it went on.The pain just continued.There were still chances to makemoremistakes.More failures.More wounds.

In death, the pain ended.You couldn’t mess anything else up.You couldn’t fail anymore.You were just…done.

Except right now, I wanted the chance to try again.Because maybe this time—this time I felt hopeful enough that I might just fly instead of falling flat on my face.

Lifting my bottle, I drank in cheers toattempting flight.

“Let’s head back,” Xander spoke into the night that had gone thoughtfully quiet between the two of us.Shivering, she added, “That fire up there is looking mighty tempting right now.”

I lifted my face and caught the outline of Keene in the distance.My heart leaped with joy at the sight of him, and it struck me just how happy I was.This definitely felt like flying to me.

And the sensation continued when he caught sight of us approaching in the dark, carrying our shoes with our bare feet covered in wet sand.

“There you are,” he called, waving me over.“Damn, Girl Union.Steal my lady from me on the biggest, most romantic day of the year, why don’t you?”

Unable to wait for me, he strode toward us, snagging me from her arms and winding his around my waist to press his brow to mine as he grinned into my eyes.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” I whispered back, dropping my shoes so I could hug him, the bottle still in my hand brushing his shoulder.

“Want to dance?”he asked, already swaying me to the song coming from the open windows of his Jeep.

It sounded like “Unsteady” by X Ambassadors was playing.

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