Page 126 of The Love You Fight For
My eyes follow him into the kitchen and Lennon bumps my arm with hers.
“Jeez, Sam, take a breath,” she teases, mocking my statement from The Outpost a few months ago, and my cheeks heat.
“Shut up,” I tell her, and we both laugh.
Macon and Chris fix plates and bring them to us. Lennon and I never have to leave the couch. Chris takes a seat on the couch next to me, and Macon drops himself at Lennon’s feet, taking one of her legs over his shoulder so he can massage her foot and calves. It’s fucking adorable, and it makes me happy that they have each other. Macon dotes on Lennon the way she deserves, and that’s the only reason I’ve forgiven him for being such a dumbass in high school.
Those two quotes fromWaldenfilter into my brain, but this time, they bring me comfort. They give me hope, and that’s how I know that I’m going to be okay.
Things do not change; we change.
Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.
We eat lasagna and watch a shitty movie, and it’s a relaxed and uneventful evening. It’s really fucking nice.
In the weeks since my father’s gala, I’ve seen these three people every single day. The media attention has been annoying, and I know that if I had a phone, I’d be fielding calls from reporters, but I haven’t had to go through any of it alone. My friends have been like my very own security blanket. They’ve been like the family I wasn’t lucky enough to be born into.
I reach my hand to my neck and trace my fingers over the compass necklace. I wasn’t lucky to have them back then, but I have them now.
Chris places his hand on my knee and squeezes. When I look down at him, he’s watching me.
“You okay?” he mouths.
“Yeah,”I mouth back with a small smile.“I’m okay.”
I’m better than okay. I’m finally happy.
THIRTY
“Are you nervous?”
I glance at Chris in the passenger seat. The blindfold he’s wearing is actually a pink sleep mask that I found in one of my suitcases. He looks cute, all rugged and masculine. Even if he has that dumb camo hat sitting backward on his head.
His full lips curl into a smirk. “No. I trust you to drive my truck.”
He can’t see me, but I smile, and then I release the brake so we roll forward a little before I slam back down on it. Our bodies rock forward and Chris yelps, and I can’t help the laugh that erupts from me.
“Not cool, Harper,” he says, panting. “Not cool.”
“Sorry.”
I’m not sorry.
I put his truck in drive and drive him around town for five minutes, taking random side roads and cutting through neighborhoods until I’m certain he has no fucking clue where we’re going, and then I head back to Main Street. I parallel park his monster of a truck right in front of the vacant building, and then I cut the engine.
“Okay, we’re here, but you can’t take the blindfold off yet.”
He nods. “Okay.”
“I have something important I need to say, and I’m just going to say it because I’m a lot more nervous now than I thought I would be, so it’s probably just easier for me to say it while you’re wearing the blindfold.”
My words come in a rush, and my heart starts to speed up. My hands get clammy, and I rub them on my jean shorts. This shouldn’t be so hard. Why is this so hard?
“Okay.” I nod even though Chris can’t see me. “Okay. I’m just going to do it, okay?”
Chris chuckles and blindly reaches for my hand. When he finds it, he squeezes gently and rubs his thumb back and forth over my knuckles.
“Okay,” he says again. “Take your time.”
