Page 24 of Always a Chance
I swallowed a cold bite of ice cream, trying not to laugh as another tear broke through.
“I feel like I should be offended.” Tanner shook his head. “Instead, I’ll just say that, yes, Johnny is an idiot. Always has been where you’re concerned. Just… he’s spent the last decade wondering why his best friend left. Give him some time to get used to you being back.”
“I’m not back.”
He’d already disappeared into the storage room.
“Let me text Rae really quickly.” Finley pulled out her phone. “She’s waiting for me out on the beach, but this is so much more interesting.”
Rae… that was why I’d recognized the woman with Johnny. She was a friend of the Kellys. “Are she and Johnny…” I had to know.
A laugh burst out of Finley. “Oh gosh, that would be hilarious. No, Rae married Shane.” The oldest Kelly. The tightness inside me loosened, but it didn’t stop the tears.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” Ice cream dripped onto my fingers, and I let it.
Finley was quiet for a moment. “Look, I won’t pretend to know all your reasons for the last ten years. I know it has something to do with Gianna’s accident, but you know Johnny. He’s very secretive. Doesn’t tell us much of anything. But you two… We all thought you’d be in each other’s lives until the day you died.”
Johnny’s words to his friends hit me then, and I found myself repeating them. “Some people aren’t meant to stay in your life.” I offered her a tight smile. “Thanks for the ice cream.” Turning, I headed for the door.
I’d just opened it when Finley spoke from behind me. “But we get to choose who does.”
13
JOHNNY
Trinity has long been a fan favorite in the romance genre. We here at thePublisher’s Newswere lucky enough to get an interview with her.
“Have you read this?” I looked up from my laptop, where the interview with me was up on my screen. I, of course, had never seen these questions before. The publicist sent in answers she thought the readers would enjoy.
“Hm?” Aidan was deep in his design program. It was the only time other than cooking that he completely lost himself. He sat on the floor of our apartment, hair askew from dragging his fingers through it and glasses perched on his nose.
“Never mind.” There was no talking when he got like this. One of my demands, once I’d risen to high enough ranks to be able to make them, was that they hire Aidan to design all my covers. He did such a great job the publisher now sent him other work. When he wasn’t being my business manager and pretty much running my life.
I’d be lost without him.
Aidan removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “No, it’s okay. I need a break anyway. What’s up?”
A sigh wound through me. “This interview. It’s ridiculous.”
Shutting his laptop, Aidan moved from the floor to join me on the couch, his eyes skimming over the text on my screen. “What’s so wrong about it?”
Seriously? “Trinity believes in true love, that there’s one perfect person for everyone.”
His brow scrunched. “And?”
“It’s bull. Love? If true love were all it’s cracked up to be, my readers wouldn’t need to experience it in my books.”
Aidan didn’t speak for a long moment before his shoulders dropped. “Is that what you really think? That your readers enjoy romance novels because they don’t have enough love in their lives?”
“No. I don’t know.”
“Is that why you write it?”
“No.” I said it quickly, but I wasn’t sure of the truth in my own words. I started my first romance book when I was seventeen. I dated plenty of girls and always had my best friend by my side. My family was more than I could’ve asked for. I’d had plenty of love. But that kind? The soul-crushing, burn-the-world-for-you kind of love?
I needed a subject change. “And here… look, it says I love cats.”
Aidan laughed. “Your readers will love that.”
