Page 27 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
Kelli lifted her chin. “And I will always be here for you, babe.”
“Promise?” I asked. Kelli was a bright light in my life. Even though we hadn’t spent nearly as much time together over the last year as I’d wanted—or even talked on the phone as much as I wanted—she was still my forever person. The one I wanted to go to with news, good or bad. The one who could make me feel better on my darkest days. She was the one I wanted to lift up, to encourage, to run beside on this journey called life.
Kelli leaned forward and clasped her hands over mine. “No matter what. You’re my best friend, Lina. Nothing will ever change that. Unless you get super famous and meet John Krasinski and never introduce me to him. Then I would have words for you.”
I burst out laughing and covered my mouth. “I would never do that to you. I know how much you love him.”
“He’s a god,” she said before taking a sip of wine. When she lowered her glass, her eyes lit up as she spotted something behind me. “And so is Jordan Wayne. Damn.”
I twisted around to follow her gaze. Jordan was a guy Kelli had dated the year before graduation. They ran together for almost a whole year, and they had gone on many double dates with me and Cal. He was a good kid who went into trades right after high school and, as far as I knew, was doing quite well for himself in the oil business.
I turned back to Kelli, who was eye fucking him without trying to hide it. I chuckled. “You should go say hi to him.”
She glanced at me. “You don’t mind?”
“Of course not. Go on. I’ll save our spot.”
Kelli smiled. “You’re the best. I won’t be long.”
“Don’t try to sneak him away for a quickie or something,” I warned as she got up and started to walk away.
She looked over her shoulder at me and flipped me the middle finger. I giggled to myself as I sipped my wine.
I was only left in peace for a short minute or so before the chair Kelli had just vacated was occupied again.
By Cal.
He crossed one leg over the other and leaned back. “How about that drink now?”
I lifted my wine to show him I was taken care of.
He swirled the dark brown concoction over ice in his cocktail glass and leaned forward to clink it against my wine glass. “It’s been a long time, Lina Nelson.”
11
CALLUM
Lina Nelson was exactly how I remembered her, and yet completely different.
Her light green eyes and the way she looked at me, like she was sizing me up, calculating what I was about to say, and coming to all her own conclusions, was the same way she used to look at me when we were kids. But there was something else there now. A sense of wisdom perhaps. And she didn’t look at me for as long as she used to. Her gaze swept over me, she made her conclusions, and then she looked away toward people milling around the buffet table.
She was sitting the same way she used to sit, too, with one leg crossed over the other as she sat sideways in her chair. Her right arm was draped over the back of the chair as she held her wine, which she would occasionally lift to her perfect dark pink lips. Back in the day, her foot would have been bobbing to the beat of the music, but now, it was still.
She even chewed the inside of her cheek like she used to—but I got the sense she was biting down harder now as she did everything in her power to avoid looking me in the eye.
She did not want to be sitting there with me.
I couldn’t blame her. Not after what I’d done.
I uncrossed my legs and planted my feet on the floor as I sipped my whiskey. “How have you been, Lina?”
“Good.”
“I’m glad to hear that. I know your modeling career has taken off. I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks.”
Damn. She was giving me the cold shoulder. “Do you enjoy it?”
