Page 54 of Tell Me Again
“Yeah, well. Ty recommended flowers and Ben’s idea was chocolate to help get us out.”
“And I got a granola bar?”
“I had to run up to Boulder the other day for a client meeting. I stopped in a deli and they were selling those bars. The girl working the counter said they were all natural but tasted just like a peanut butter cup.”
“I used to love those,” she said, her smile widening at the memory of saving enough change to buy her favorite candy at the drugstore on her way home from school.
“I remember,” he answered, tapping one finger to the side of his head. “So I got it for you.”
She laughed. “In case you landed in the doghouse?”
“Nah,” he answered, backing toward the door. “I just wanted to make you happy.”
Her mouth dropped open, and he was gone before she could formulate a response. Tears of a different sort sprang to the back of her eyes. When was the last time a man had thought about her happiness? She sank to the sofa and stared at the office’s closed door.
In the midst of all the doubt and sorrow, Trevor had planted a tiny seed of joy inside her. As much as she pretended she didn’t need anyone, a part of her still wished for someone who would want to take care of her.
She hadn’t planned on being alone for her life, her friends and the camp her only community. She’d met hundreds of people traveling for modeling assignments, knew dozens of famous people, but she’d walked away from that world without looking back. Other than her longtime agent, she didn’t keep in touch with anyone. Until Kendall and Chloe, there wasn’t one person on the planet she’d considered a friend.
It was her own fault. She had too many sharp edges. Casual conversation and sharing—the kind that women did during shopping trips and girls’ nights on the town—didn’t come easy to her. It was difficult to trust people.
Part of that came from her background. Her mother had only known how to use people for her benefit, even her own daughters. Sam’s bond with Bryce, while intrinsically tight, was also fraught with tension. She couldn’t step out from the shadow of it without repeating the same mistakes.
Her feelings for Trevor, although complicated, had always seemed inherently pure. He’d broken her heart and kept a potent secret from her, but neither of those infractions had truly tarnished the place he held deep in her heart.
Maybe it was too much significance to place on a granola bar, but the fact that he’d thought of her... thought of making her happy... had to mean that despite his doubts and anger, he still held on to his feelings for her as well.
She walked to her desk, opened the drawer, and placed the granola bar carefully inside next to a photo of Bryce and her. It showed them at age ten, sitting side by side on the top of a picnic table. Sam was smiling at the camera but Bryce’s gaze was on Sam, a look of pure devotion on her face that made Sam’s heart squeeze every time she saw the picture.
She wished she could see herself the way her twin had in that photo. Maybe then she could make all the wrong things in her world right again. Maybe she could believe she was worthy of love and happiness after all.
