Several times.
Xander
Whatever they’re adding to the food, it’s addictive.
Do you come here often?
The dots appear and disappear for what feels like hours, while my heart echoes in my temples.
Xander
The food is worth it.
That took him so long to write? My fingers hover above the keyboard, and then I take the leap.
Maybe one day we can have dinner there together.
I hit send. There. It’s done.
What the hell is wrong with me? I started this conversation to cut the ties completely. And here I am suggesting dinner together.
Jesus. A few lines between us in some impersonal texts and I… Well, I didn’t pretend.
For a few brief beats, while typing and reading his messages, I forgot about the betrayal and went with the flow.
He doesn’t respond, and my tentative excitement, which is overshadowed by my current freak-out, deflates, because he’s not even writing and deleting like before.
And what was I excited about? It’s not like I could ever trust him again.
You forgave your father. You’re focusing only on the dark side of yours and Xander’s story.
My eyes land on this morning’s sunflowers, and I close them. Like I could ever unsee what they represent. They never come with a note. No words of coaxing, of manipulation, of influencing.
He just sends them.
Because they are my favorite flowers.
The roar of an engine and the shriek of tires yank me from my emotional spiral. This estate has a secured gate—so who the hell just barreled through it?
I don’t even make it to the window when a persistent knock on the door stops me. I approach it with careful steps, as if I could stop an intruder.
Craning my neck, I glimpse a large truck in front of the house, the driver’s door open, but I don’t see who is at the door from this vantage point.
They left the car door open.
Maybe they need help.
I swing the door open, and my knees buckle.
Chapter 34
Xander
Fuck, she is gorgeous.
Her hair is in a wild mess, her face pale, dark shadows rimming her eyes. And still, seeing her expands my chest, while taking my breath away.
Any version of her is simply something I want to keep seeing for the rest of my life.
