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“She’ll come back.” I picked up Viv’s Magic 8-Ball and gave it a shake.

Outlook good.

I shook my head as I set it down. I was becoming a chump. First Tarot cards, now stupid toys. But I smiled all the way back to my station and the smile hung around as I set up for my first client.

When little slivers of hope put in an appearance, you have to grab them and hold on. Give them a smile. Otherwise, what’s the fucking point?

CHAPTER

THIRTEEN

At dinner that night, I told the Fletchers, Dena, and Oscar that I was definitely going back to New Orleans. Beverly was disappointed but told me she understood, so long as I came back to visit.

“And I’m not going to give up on the idea of you moving back here,” she told me when it was time for me to head back to the hotel. She hugged me tight. “For what you did for Jonah…”

I hugged her back. “I didn’t do anything for Jonah that he didn’t do for me.”

Beverly pulled away and cupped my face in her hands, her face threatening to crumple into tears. “Oh, my sweet girl…” she managed, and let me go.

Dena pulled me close. “Our wedding is in one month. I want you to be one of my bridesmaids.”

I recoiled a little but tried not to show it. The wedding of Jonah’s best friends, without Jonah present, would be so fucking hard…But I smiled and nodded, my happiness for them surfacing from beneath the grief.

“I’d be honored, Dena.”

She smiled at me and then said, as if she could read my thoughts, “It will be a bittersweet day, but in the end, love must triumph, yes? Forallof us, Kacey,” she added in a whisper, as if it were a secret.

Theo was at my hotel before sunrise. He took my trundling luggage out of my hands and stowed it in the back of the truck, then opened the passenger door when I paused to rummage in my purse, making sure I had everything.

“You’re a true gentleman,” I said, climbing in. Two coffees were sitting in the cup holders, filling the cab with their heavenly scent. “I take that back. You’re a saint.”

Theo grunted a reply. He said almost nothing the entire drive to the airport. His expression was hard and his eyes full of thoughts he wouldn’t share with me. At the security checkpoint at McCarran, I faced him, tucked a lock of hair behind my ear.

“Teddy, I can’t thank you enough.”

“Don’t,” he said, his eyes looking everywhere but at me. “Don’t thank me, Kace. Just…”

“What?” I chucked his arm lightly. “Talk to me, Goose.”

He shook his head. “Nothing.”

“Okay.” I stepped closer and tentatively gave him a hug. It felt like hugging a boulder. “Goodbye.”

I released him and turned to go, but his hand slipped into mine and he pulled me back. His light brown eyes looked backlit from within, as if all the thoughts he never said were on fire. His jaw worked for a moment before he said, “Remember the other night. Outside your hotel, when I said you didn’t owe me anything?”

“Yes.”

“I take it back. You owe me one thing.”

His hand was still holding mine. “Okay.”

“You have to promise me that if shit gets tough, and it feels like you’re going under, you fucking call me.”

“So you can fly back to New Orleans and fail more classes? Or maybe lose your job?”

“Yes.” His hand squeezed tighter. “I don’t blame you for taking off the first time. Hell, some days I want to jump in this truck and start driving, just to get lost for a while. Don’t beat yourself up. You did what you had to do to cope.” The hard edges of his voice softened, as did his gaze on me. “But don’t do it again.”

I nodded mutely. “I won’t.”