Page 42 of A Little Bit Whiskey
“Tell me about it.” Zinny swiped at her cheeks.
“TJ is damn lucky to have you and Toby for loving parents.”
“Thank you. I appreciate the kind words.” Zinny ran her fingers across the pages. “Oh my God. This is hysterical. You’ve got to see this.”
“What?” Tamsyn set aside the yearbook she’d been thumbing through. She wasn’t sure why she’d opened it, except to see what kinds of messages her classmates wrote to Noir. She never had hers signed. She didn’t have that many friends and she figured she’d be too depressed ten years later when she opened that fucker up.
Noir must have felt the same way because she hadn’t seen a single signature.
Zinny held up the notebook, showing off the inside cover. The wordsNoir and Tamsynwith a heart traced around stared back at her like a rocket. “I knew my brother had a crush on you, but I didn’t expect him to be such a girl about it.”
“I didn’t know.” She took the pad from Zinny and ran her fingers over the letters. She flipped the page. “This is a journal.” She lifted her gaze. “I shouldn’t be reading this.”
“Then I will.” Zinny snatched it, jumping to her feet.
“Come on. We shouldn’t.”
“Oh, we absolutely should.” Zinny sat on the windowsill. There was no arguing with her when she got like this.
And if Tamsyn was being honest, she wanted to know what Noir might have been thinking back in the day.
“It’s dated, and this would have been his senior year,” Zinny said.“My father always says writing thoughts down is helpful. I’ve been doing this now for a year, and I can’t say that it’s doing anything but letting me bare my soul. But I can’t really tell anyone. Nebbiolo, who I tell everything to, wouldn’t understand. He’d poke fun at me and this isn’t a laughing matter.
The person I want to tell, well, that would be a disaster for more than one reason. For so long, Tamsyn and I have kept our friendship private.”Zinny lifted her gaze. “What the hell does that mean?”
“You know Noir was always kind to me.” Tamsyn took a folder and opened it. Tucked inside were all his report cards. “We did text more than we let on, but with the way the other kids treated us because of the rumors, we kept our distance while at school.”
“You learn something new every day.” Zinny adjusted the notebook.“From the beginning, we both agreed it was for the best. My father has said the rumors aren’t true. So has my mother. I believe them. So does Tamsyn. It’s utterly absurd. I want to act on my feelings, but doing that, I not only risk more ridicule, but I could lose my best friend and the one person who means as much to me as my family.
And now she’s going to prom with fucking Hunter.
I should be taking her. I want to. But holy shit, that would cause a stir bigger than my mother walking down Main Street in curlers holding a loaded shotgun.
If only there was a way to make the rumor mill go away so I could tell Tamsyn that I love her.”
“What the fuck are you doing, Zinny?” Noir flew into the room and snatched the notebook from her hands. “Where did you get this?” He snapped it shut, tucking it under his arm.
“And you.” He pointed to Tamsyn. “I can’t believe you sat there and let her read that shit.”
Tamsyn covered her mouth to hide her smile. Part of her felt bad she had invaded his personal space. Those were his private thoughts from when he’d been a teenager. However, his words had not only been unexpected, mind-blowing, and insanely sweet, but they touched a part of her heart that had always been reserved for him.
She might not have written her thoughts in a notebook. She might not have even realized how deep her feelings were for Noir back in high school. But he’d been her ride or die for as long as she could remember.
Even when they dated other people.
“I’m so glad you find this amusing,” he mumbled. “I thought Mom got rid of this stuff when I moved out.”
“You should have seen the stuff I found in my old room.” Zinny stood. “Toby had a field day with some of those things, especially mywho should I marrybinder that I put together when I was twelve.”
“Oh, sweet Jesus. Who was in that?” Tamsyn asked.
Zinny tapped her temple and glanced toward the ceiling. “Officer Bob. Dax. Sam Wilde. The Zamboni guy at CWF Prep when Dax played there.”
“Let me put it this way,” Noir said. “Any man who was ten years older and had a pulse. Including her husband.”
“Yeah, I did have a crush on him.” Zinny smiled. “Speaking of the love of my life. I better go give him a hand with the little munchkin.”
“We appreciate him taking the day off work to help with this search.” Noir sat on the bed, tossing the notebook into a box. “He’s in the den with Dad.”
