“But he doesn’t.”
“How do you know? I know you like him. Likelikehim. In more than a crush way.”
“You’re the crazy one now,” I said, busying myself with looking in the fridge. There was no way anyone needed to know that.
“Stop trying to hide your feelings from me. I know you wear your heart on your sleeve. You are so in love with him, and he’s a guy, so I bet he probably doesn’t even see it. But I so do. The way you freeze up when he’s brought into the conversation. The way your eyes looked him over when he showed up last week. It’s all of it!”
“You’re delusional,” I laughed, my cheeks heating.
“No, you are right now. Why won’t you admit that you love him?”
“No fucking way!” I hissed, spinning to face her. I nearly ran into her. When had she moved? “I can’t love him, okay? He deserves better than me. Me, who is so messed up I can’t get some of my issues taken care of like I should be able to. Danger follows me. Depression is still holding me down. I can’t drag him down with me!”
“How would you know what he wants? Maybe he loves you enough to help keep your head up, to help guide you when you need it the most. Maybe, just maybe…” She put her hands on my arms, holding me in place. She knew me way too well, letting her know that I’d leave this room if given the chance. “How, Scarlett, would you know he’d want nothing to do with you? Have you even asked? I’m betting he’d like to have the chance to decide for himself.”
“But—"
Right at that moment, the doorbell rang. Hope came running out from under the couch with a small meow.
“You may want to get that,” Sawyer said, letting me go and stepping back.
“You’ve never bothered before.”
“And it’s about time you know how to answer the door.” She winked on her way to the couch. “But don’t think that our conversation is over.”
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” I laughed as I reached the door. I peeked through the peephole before I unlocked it and turned the knob.
“Collin.” His name, his presence, caused me to smile.
“Wonderful to see you too, kiddo,” he said, wrapping me in a tight hug. “God, Zevon didn’t say how much you’ve changed. You cut your hair!”
“It was her idea,” I said, standing back and letting him in. “Sawyer, this is Collin.”
“Hi Uncle Collin!” she greeted with a little wave of her fingers from the couch.
“Uh, hello?”
“Scarlett talks a lot about you.”
“Sorry,” I grimaced.
“Don’t ever apologize for having a friend,” Collin said as he sat his bag down next to the door after closing it. “You’re looking very well.”
“All thanks to her,” I nodded towards said friend. “If it weren’t for her…”
“Nah. You’d still have this either way. This is all on you, kiddo. But it’s really good to see you.”
“You too.” It really was. I was tempted to hug him again, just because I missed him so much.
“I was going to call to let you know when I was close. But with the rain, I assumed you’d be here.”
“Yeah. Just trying to figure out what to do exactly. Someone doesn’t like to look like a drowned rat.”
“Hey!” Sawyer huffed.
“I won’t be able to stay more than one night,” Collin said sadly. “Ace needs me to handle a few things for him.”
“That’s okay.” I’d take whatever time he could spare for now.
