Page 60 of The Last Thing
She laughs. “Right. I forget people recognize them. No, Kennedy lives out in California with her lifelong bestie turned boyfriend, Devon. But we all lived together in New York for a while. She and Dev met Justin in college, so I met him for the first time when I was thirteen. We immediately had a sibling-like relationship. He moved to Woods Junction, where Jade is from, over the summer.”
“No wonder you ended up here.”
She swallows. “Yeah. Missed my people. Still miss Kennedy. She’s like another older sister. Our moms are sisters and our dads are brothers, and when we were little, we lived in a duplex next to them. She and her parents moved to California when I was six. I cried every night for two weeks after she left.” She laughs sadly, then shakes her head. “Sorry. I don’t know why I’m telling you all that.”
“You can tell me anything.”
She nods absently, then continues on. “Anyway, that whole friend group knows, but that’s it. Does anyone in your world know?”
“My boss. Leo. He was a single dad, and he’s really great with family stuff, so I gave him a heads up I’d have to be out here and there for appointments. I was planning to stop by and tell my mom tomorrow night, and… I was going to ask if you’d come with Soph and me to dinner at her house on Sunday.”
I hold my breath. It’s a risk. She said it was just sex, but nothing about what we’re doing isjustanything.
Slowly, she nods. “Okay. I’ll go with you. I’d like to get to know your mom better. You two seem close.”
I smile at that. I wouldn’t be the man I am without my mom.
“We are. Growing up, she and my dad were my biggest supporters.”
“What was your dad like?”
Emotion grips my chest, both because of the topic and because she’s asking about him.
“Upbeat. He was the brightness everyone needed. He was all about fate and having faith that you’d end up where you were supposed to be. Not gonna lie, I’ve been holding on to that lately.”
She reaches over and squeezes my hand, and I clear my throat.
“He would’ve liked you. Anyway, what about your folks? Do they know?”
She shakes her head. “No. I’m planning to tell them soonish.”
“If you need support, let me know.”
“Thanks.” She sighs, then looks up at the ceiling and laughs. “How did this happen?”
My stubble scrapes across my palm as I rub my cheek.
“I might… I don’t know. That last round, I felt like the condom was going to burst from how hard I was and how badly I wanted to come. Normally, I’d just chalk a thought like that up to hormones and ego, but my eyes were already closed when I pulled it off. Maybe it broke or punctured… I don’t know.”
“Maybe, but I’m sure we… cross contaminated a bit with all the playing around we did. It doesn’t really matter. Here we are. Time to figure out how to handle it. I know you know this, but we’ve got to be careful with Sophia. I don’t want to confuse her.”
“Me either.” But I also want to truly be with Hallie. She isn’t there yet, but Sophia is picking up on what’s obviously betweenus. “Let’s just take it a day at a time. I think we should wait until after our twelve-week ultrasound, at least, anyway.”
“I agree.”
That’s scheduled for a little over three weeks from now. Maybe it’s stupid to hope we’ll have made some progress by then, but I hope we will.
“So, let’s get through that, and then we’ll talk about it more.”
“Sounds good.”
I gently rub both hands over one of her bare feet, and she groans.
“That feels so good. No one’s ever massaged my feet before.”
I get the feeling that’s because she doesn’t let anyone close enough. Not in this way.
I’m breaking down her walls and she doesn’t even know it. Or maybe she does and despite her protests, that’s what she actually wants.
