Aly smiled brightly and blinked back the weird moisture in her eyes before releasing Sam’s shoulders.Sam shrugged.Her mouth was faintly curved, so Aly knew she wasn’ttotallyuncomfortable.But there was still that careful way she held herself back.
Aly couldn’t blame her for it, didn’t fully know how to bridge that gap, but the longer all this went on and Sam was just… in her life again in a positive way, the more she wanted to bridge it, fix it.Berealfriends again.
“You can’tshrug.You have to know when.You definitely weren’t kissing this summer when you both spent the night here.I was watching.”
“Watching what, you weirdo?”Sam muttered, very much reminding Aly of the girls they’d been.
Because even before their lives had changed, Aly had been the… more optimistic of them.The morehopeful.
And then… well, Aly didn’t want to think about theand thenright now.“All that tension.It was like a force field around you two then.But there’s notensionif there’s active kissing.So, you weren’t kissing then, because the tension was palpable.”
“Aly, we’re not in high school anymore.”
“Exactly, which is why I want to hear thestory.Not giggle over kissing.”
Maybe she hadn’t been friends with Sam for fifteen years.Maybe they had even been active enemies, but Aly still thought she understood the core of Samantha Price.Aly had hoped for good, naturally and maybe as a product of her fatherbeinggood, giving her so muchgoodbefore he’d died.That hope had certainly taken hit after hit in the years since, but even before Marie’s murder, Sam had been more cautious.She had feared the good or mistrusted it—or maybe it was more she’d feared the potential bad on the other side of good.Sam reminded Aly of Landon that way.
Which was why, right now, she was determined to bring a littlehigh schoolinto this conversation.
She lowered her voice, leaned close.“Was it good?”she whispered, more out of humor than the need to be quiet.
“You think I’d be complicating my life this much for mediocre sex?”
Aly barked out a laugh and linked arms with Sam.It was too cold to stand out here and talk even if Aly wanted the privacy.Though Sam’s responding laugh warmed her up some.
Aly didn’t know why, but as much as Jill was her closest friend these days, she didn’t feel comfortable talking to her about the more… intimate details of her relationship with Landon.Maybe because Jill was secluded on that mountain with her grandmother, the hope of having much of a life outside that very slim.Maybe it was some ingrained belief an outsider couldn’t understand that the Bennets were complicated.Landon was complicated.
But Sam understood.Better than anyone.She’d been Aly’s friend when those first seeds had been planted.She’d lived through the enduringhellof fifteen years after Marie’s murder.
So, Aly wanted to nurture this seed of friendship.Of something they could offer each other.Understanding over the men they werekissing.
“Remember when we used to hang out after school and very studiously pretend weweren’twatching track practice when Nate was doing hurdles?”
Sam bit her lip, clearly trying to bite back a grin.“I haveno ideawhat you mean, Aly,” she said loftily as they stepped into the living room.But then she lowered her voice.“Gonna let Landon in on the fact we used to ogle his brother together?”
Aly pretended to consider it.“Maybe next time I’m mad at him.”
Sam snorted out a laugh.Therewas a real smile, not held back.“Always knew you had a mean streak, Al.”
“You’re the only one,” Aly replied.
And it was true.In some ways, Sam was the only person she’d ever been hertrueself around without… fear or concern.Even before Marie had died, Aly had known her situation at the Bennet Ranch was precarious, so she’d always striven to be seen as good.Perfect.
She waslearningto let some of those pieces of herself she’d hidden from Landon be visible now, but it was an effort.An effort born of wanting to build a life together.And that was good, and important.
But right now reminded her that it wasn’t and had never been an effort with Sam.And that was something to work toward having again.
*
Landon looked upat the sound of laughter.He noted that Nate did the same from his spot leaning against the counter.Cal kept his head resolutely down where he was sitting at the little kitchen table.
Aly and Sam tromped into the kitchen, arms linked, like they were old friends instead of recent enemies.It was… weird.
Landon couldn’t hate Sam anymore.Maybe he didn’t even dislike her anymore.But he wasn’t sure helikedher.He’d had to trust her.He didn’t think she was after anything.Still, something about her just left a feeling of discomfort he wasn’t sure would ever fully go away.
Maybe Aly could forget fifteen years of being at odds—Sam being shitty to them, and them being shitty right back—but Landon had a harder time.
Still, he did like seeing Aly happy, and she looked really, really happy about whatever she and Sam were talking about.
