“Hi, everybody, and thank you so much for coming tonight to welcome Daniel and Drew home. You know I love all of you. However, I’m only going to say this one time because I despise pretending that there isn’t an enormous elephant in the room. Tonight is about family, and Jayson is part of my family. He’s here because I want him here. If you have a problem with it, then I kindly ask that you leave. Don’t forget to take some food with you. I don’t have the fridge space for leftovers.”
I’m as dumbfounded by her unexpected announcement as everyone else looks.
“I literally didn’t say a word,” Aurora mumbles under her breath.
“Baby, read the room,” JD tells her, miming zipping his lips closed.
Liz’s face is full of defiance when she pivots around. “Ask me to dance.”
Caught off guard, I sputter, “Huh?”
“Ask me to dance.”
If looks could kill, Fallon just murdered me painfully and in a thousand inventive ways. “Kitten, what are you?—”
“Doing?” she says, finishing his query. “I’m going to dance with Jayson. After that, who the hell knows? Maybe eat an apple turnover.”
Julien masks his amused smirk behind his hand as Liz drags me away.
What just happened?
Chapter Forty
ELIZABETH
Persona Non Grata
“I apologize about Aurora.She’s a bit protective.”
Jayson tries to shrug it off like it’s no big deal. “I get that I’mpersona non gratawith most of your friends, but you don’t have to fight my battles, Liz. That’s my job. Respect is earned, not given freely. I knew coming back wouldn’t be easy.”
I’m prepared to fight for his place here. It’s a place where he’s always belonged because Jayson will forever own a piece of my heart. Almost every person here, including myself, has been given the gift of a second chance. JD with Aurora. Tate with Peyton. Trevor with Austin. Julien with Elijah. Renee with Ben. Knox. Fallon. Me, three times over. Jayson deserves the same. And if Ryder were here, he’d stand by Jayson and take on the entire world for him.
Stopping in the grass far enough away from the curious looks and concealed back-of-the-hand whispers, I position Jayson’s arms at my waist. His fingers tighten slightly on my hips, almost hesitantly, like he’s unsure if he’s allowed to touch me. I answer that by draping my arms over the wide breadth of his shoulders and stepping closer into him until our bodies are flush.
“Just like at prom,” I comment.
“A lotof stuff happened at prom,” Jayson replies with emphasis, and I don’t know if he’s referring to his promise ring in front of the Eiffel Tower or what happened after in the hotel room. At the memory, heat instantly singes my cheeks because…yeah.
“Is that a blush, Princess?”
“No,” I quickly refute. “Hush. I like this song.”
I have no idea what’s playing out of the in-ground speakers, something upbeat like a Top 40 song, but Jayson and I lilt gently back and forth to our own rhythm.
Wrapped in his familiar embrace, I am a teenager again, swaying barefoot on my back deck, whispering secrets into the night. We used to slow dance all the time when the mood struck. In the living room, in the bedroom, in the rain—those were my favorite. Jayson was always a romantic. He made every single one of my firsts special.
Sometimes, I wish I could be that girl again and not the broken woman I’ve become—but that woman fought hard for her happiness after incredible loss. She found love again, only to have the love of her past show up on her doorstep to complicate things. Those goddamn Fates with their twisted knots.
“What was that song the DJ played when you and Ry danced?”
My damn heart painfully clenches. “‘Helium.’” Our song, mine and Ryder’s.
“Listen,” he says, cocking his head, and I go quiet, straining to hear what he’s hearing.
Sia’s beautiful ballad fills the air around us, seeping in through the background noise of laughter and loud chatter.
Jayson’s breath is warm against my temple when he murmurs, “Ry’s here with us.”
