“Nope. Our day starts earlier in the morning than yours, so we’re about to head out too.” He stood and dragged me into a hug. “You know,” he whispered in my ear before he pulled away, his eyes drifting over my shoulder, “I always thought you’d end up with Julie.”
“Iamwith Julie. We’re best friends.”
When I followed his gaze, I found Maria and Julie laughing and huddled in their own secret conversation.
“I always thought you’d be good together.”
Julie smiled when she caught my gaze. She was gorgeous, then and now, and if she hadn’t been dating a friend of mine when I’d met her in college, I wouldn’t have veered that easily into the friend zone. We always gravitated toward each other, but other than a drunken almost-kiss the night of graduation, I’d never pushed for more. She was too important to me to risk losing.
And now, she was sick.
“If you’re not too tired, how about going for a walk?” I asked Julie as we left the restaurant.
“Where?”
“Just around the hotel. We can check out the fountains, maybe. You’ve seen the water show, right?”
“Yes, a while ago.” Her eyes flicked to mine before she stepped in front of me. “Please stop worrying,” she said, reaching up to squeeze the back of my neck.
“Who said I was worrying? I asked if you wanted to see the water show.”
“You are a lousy liar. I am okay, and I’m happy to spend the weekend with my best friend, but he needs to stop eyeballing me.”
“It’s your fault,” I said, making an exaggerated perusal of her body. “We’re friends and all, but that top is something else.”
She slapped my arm when I waggled my eyebrows.
“The top is tighter than when I bought it, like everything else lately. But eh, it’s Vegas.” She shrugged. “And stop deflecting. You know what I mean by eyeballing.”
I stepped closer, holding her narrowed eyes as I grabbed her hand.
“Yes, I’m worried about you. My best friend just told me that she has a chronic and potentially serious disease and may not have health insurance to take care of herself. And when you get home, I’m probably going to randomly FaceTime you sometimes and text you enough to be annoying until I can trust you when you say you’reokay, which may not be for a long while.”
“Like you’re going to have time to do that,” she said, squeezing my hand back as her eyes filled with tears.
“I’ll make time,” I said, pressing my lips to her forehead. “For you.”
She buried her head into my chest, her shoulders drooping with relief as she lowered the mask long enough to sniffle in my arms.
I dropped a kiss to the top of her head, holding her flush to my body as she cinched her arms around my waist.
“It’s okay, Jules,” I whispered, rocking her back and forth. “I’ve got you.”
I’d do anything she needed to keep her well and safe. I only wished I knew how. The fear and the helplessness made me want to crawl out of my skin.
Maybe we weren’ttogether, as Dean had suggested, but Julie was always with me, and I refused to think of a future when she wasn’t.
4
JULIE
Landon kept hold of my hand as we meandered through the hotel lobby, gripping on to it as if he thought I’d run away. I was still recovering from the swell of emotion as I’d cried into his chest. As much as I tried to push my problems out of my mind, they’d sneak up on me. The pain in Landon’s eyes when he confessed how worried he was did me in before I could stop it.
“When will you know about New York?” I asked when we arrived at the fountains. I lifted my hair off the damp nape of my neck. It was a warm Vegas night, the sweltering July heat still in the air even with the cool spray drifting off the water.
“Maybe in a couple of weeks. Like I said, it’s all just rumblings now, but it would be nice. A lot more work, which I have plenty of already, but proximity to the important people in my life may make it worth it.” He nudged my side as we came up to the railing.
“Would I even get to see you if you moved back? You need some balance. The hours you put in aren’t healthy.”
