Page 45 of Safe With Me
So, no. I wasn’t going tolovelove her. I’d love her like I did – friends who were going to be more than friends. I’d like her and be okay if she never loved me because look at what loving Elizabeth and her mama had done to her.
She didn’t need to love me.
We could like each other, love like friends did, and be more than friends.
We could be in like.
We’d be okay.
“What are you standing there thinking through?” Frowning, she pulled out of my arms.
“What I want to eat.” I turned away and opened the fridge. Hell, my hands still shook from that confrontation at the Winn Dixie. I grabbed a pack of cheddar and the pepperoni. Tossing them on the island, I flicked a finger at that fucking half-finished wreath. She’d abandoned it, and I felt sorry for the damned thing. “You gonna finish that?”
She stiffened before the tension drained, leaving her deflated.
“No.” She sighed, dancing a fingertip over a cedar frond that looked less than fresh now. “I should just get rid of it.”
I layered cheese and pepperoni on top of a cracker and took a bite. “Why?”
When I spoke around the cracker, she rolled her eyes. Mama would have done the same and laughed, reminding me to put on my manners when I went out the door, but letting me be comfortable at home.
Hell, Hannah was my home.
“Because.” She folded her arms, a stubborn bent to her chin.
Chewing, I caught her eye and rolled a hand in a silent demand for elaboration.
“I don’t have to tell you my reasons.”
“You don’t, but letting that work go to waste would be a shame. It’s pretty.”
“Yeah.” A wistful note entered her voice, and her lips turned down at the corners. I wanted to kiss her better, kiss her until she smiled again.
I set up another cracker. “You’re gonna get mad and want to throw me out for what I’m about to say.”
“Then think twice if you want to stay.”
Was that haughty little lift of her nose supposed to intimidate me? Shit. I was Darby Edwards’s boy. “You don’t have to let her take that from you.”
Her eyes widened, then narrowed, bad temper sparking in them like molten gold. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You should finish it for yourself.”
She narrowed her eyes further. Hell, a little more and they’d be closed. “Do I tell you what to do?”
“Uh, yeah.” I laughed. “Don’t ruin your supper. Get your feet off Sara’s table. Order me a Cosmo-whatever. You boss me all the time. Or try to.”
“There’s no point in doing this.” She touched the wreath once more, longing and yearning all over her. “Or doing anything. She’ll find a way to ruin it.”
“I thought I’d ruined us and we’re finding our way back, right?”
“That’s not the same, Tate.”
“You’re right. It’s not.” I shrugged. “I’m some guy you’re friends with who messed up. She’s your sister. She’s been with you almost your whole life, and she’s acting out deliberately. It’s not the same. It’s easier to let me back in.”
Tears filled her eyes, glittering. Her throat worked with a swallow, and she pressed her lips together.
“You’re hurt as hell. You don’t know what’s coming at you next or how to process what’s gone down.” I gave a slight shake of my head, tilting my chin toward the wreath. “But I wish you wouldn’t let her keep that. It’s like your life’s on hold–”
