Page 90 of Things We Hide from the Light
But if Naomi was surprised by the question, she didn’t let on. “It was a feeling. Some kind of magic. A rightness, I guess. It definitely didn’t make any logical sense. On paper we couldn’t be more ill-suited to each other. But there was something sorightabout how it felt to be with him.”
Shit. That sounded…familiar.
I busied myself with a hit of caffeine.
“But you can’t just fall for someone over the course of a few days, can you?”
“Of course you can,” she scoffed.
I wished I’d gone to a bar instead of a café.
“But there are layers to it. You can fall head over heels for someone on the surface. You can find them attractive and exciting or, in Knox’s case, infuriating. And it can stop there. But the deeper you dig, the more pieces you see of that person, the further you can fall. That can happen fast too.”
I thought about our late-night confessions, the strange, fragile intimacy we’d built between us by trusting the other with things no one else knew. I wondered if it would shatter if I toldhim the full truth. Or was there an invisible strength in that kind of honesty?
“Or if you’re like me and Knox, it can take a chisel and a hammer before you get past the ‘You’re hot. Let’s have sex’ layer,” Naomi added.
“I like that layer,” I admitted.
“What’s not to like about that layer?” she teased.
“Can the deeper layers even compare to that?” I was only half joking.
She hit me with her full wattage grin. “Oh, honey. It just keeps getting better. The more you know and love and respect your partner, the more vulnerable you are together, the bettereverythinggets. And I do meaneverything.”
“That sounds…terrifying,” I decided.
“You’re not wrong,” she agreed. “Have I waited the appropriate amount of time before demanding to know who is making you feel these feelings?”
“This is all hypothetical.”
“Right. Because you’re not sitting there with Nash’s dog. And you and Nash didn’t almost set fire to my dining room table with the sparks flying between you two at dinner. And Knox didn’t throw a fit about Nash cornering you afterward.”
“Nothing wrong with your communication as a couple,” I said.
She stared me down, willing me to break, but I held fast. “Ugh. Fine,” she said. “But just know that if you do need to talk, hypothetically or otherwise, I’m here. And I’m rooting for you.”
“Thank you,” I said, stroking a hand over Piper’s wiry fur. “I appreciate that.”
“That’s what friends are for,” she said before glancing at her watch. “If you’ll excuse me, it’s time for me to go let Sloane talk me into using the money from the sale of my house for the good of the community since my husband-to-be absolutely refusesto let me pay for the wedding, the honeymoon, or Waylay’s college.”
“Why not save it?”
“I’m saving some of it. But I used an inheritance from my grandma for the down payment on that house, and it just feels right to invest that in the future of something I care about. Sloane says she has the perfect cause.” She picked up her gallon-sized coffee and stood. “Don’t forget about dress shopping!”
We said our goodbyes and I watched Naomi glide out the door into the chilly autumn morning.
I looked down at Piper. She had whipped cream on her doggy mustache. “I think I need to tell your dad the truth,” I said.
The dog cocked her head and made an uncomfortable amount of eye contact.
“Have any advice for me?” I asked.
Her pink tongue darted out and snagged the whipped cream on her snout.
If Lucian hadn’t managed to convince Nash that I was a scheming, manipulative femme fatale over breakfast, maybe I could tell him why I was there and that I was kinda, sorta into him over lunch.
“You know, even if he’s initially mad at me, I still have you,” I said to the dog. “Maybe I can hold you hostage and ransom you for his forgiveness.”
