“No. I’m just assuming she said some things that weren’t comfortable for her to say or for you to hear. But she’s a person who feels all her feelings all at once. She just needs a minute. It’s hard to see someone you care about going away.”
“Yeah.” My voice came out as a rasp. “She said it like it was her fault. Everybody turning on her and then me leaving too. So I feel like shit. But I’m glad she went with Daniela.”
“It’s probably exactly what she needs. Proof she has people who really do care about her. Daniela took off like a bullet to chase after her and talk to her, and I only found out they wereleaving together when I got a text. She was super apologetic about it and offered to pay for a rideshare if nobody else was around to take me.”
“Well, she’s on my list now for abandoning you, but luckily I have lots of people on my list and I haven’t killed any of them, so she’ll be fine.”
She gave me a small, sad smile. “I get it, though. I mean… I’m also sad you’re going. I try not to think about it, but, um… I’m going to miss you.”
I snorted, looking away. “You could do better.”
“Jade…” She moved her hand up my arm, and I softened into it, despite my best efforts to be cold and closed off. “People wouldn’t be so sad about you leaving if you weren’t someone people love. I swear, everyone in this world worries if they’re loved, if they’re wanted. I don’t think I can express to you how beautiful you are, inside and out.”
I felt it like a punch to the gut, and I stared at her like—some fucking guardian angel, absolutely radiant. Absolutely nothing like me. But maybe she’d rub off on me a little bit, and I’d be able to take some of whatever made her so incandescent, bring it with me, be better for having known her. Something sentimental like that. Alyssa was pulling off a lot of miracles here in Paxton Ridge, but the biggest was probably gettingmeto be mushy.
“I’m going to miss you, too,” I rasped, looking away. “I mean, you’re really… Sawyer really fumbled the bag hard. Let’s just say it like that.”
She laughed, and she shifted closer to me, pressing her face against my shoulder, kissing softly, and I melted. “Can I come back to your place?” she whispered. “I don’t want to get in the way of things back at Daniela’s…”
Something fluttered in my chest, and I took in a deep breath, the soft scent of her that I’d been committing to memorywrapped around my mind, caressing every thought in my head. “Sounds good,” I said. “Should I pick up some ghost peppers on the way back, put them in your drink?”
She snorted, burying her face against the crook of my neck, and she was so impossibly precious there, I wanted to hold her like this forever. “No need to worry, I’ve already got my Carolina reaper eyedrops and nasal spray, I’m covered.”
“You are genuinely supernatural.”
“I like spicy food.”
“I noticed. C’mon, you. I need a shower and a huge cup of tea.” I put the car in reverse, getting us back on the road as Alyssa settled in and helped herself to looking through my music collection for something to play. The way she just settled in like it was our car, like it was our music, like it wasus,Alyssa and Jade, made me really fucking sentimental when I was trying really fucking hard tonotbe sentimental.
“Savannah Grace?” she said, taking a CD out of the sleeve as I drove.
“Big fan?”
“Who isn’t?” she laughed, sliding it into the drive, and it whirred to life as she settled back into the seat.
“You know she lives in Vermont.”
“Wait, really?”
“Cosmic irony. Cat actually saw her in Burlington one time. The one person here who has never and will never listen to her music. She was ecstatic just for the opportunity to rub it in Kaitlyn’s face, because she’s a superfan.”
“Cat would,” she said fondly, and my chest ached, just a little. If Alyssa went back to Boston, and I left too, Cat would be devastated.
But hell. The whole town was rallying around how much they loved Alyssa. They’d make sure she stayed, or at least wound up somewhere close enough she could visit regularly.And that was why I needednotto fall for Alyssa, because the last thing I wanted to do was ruin her in the eyes of the community by association.
For right now, though, it was just the two of us. And that was all I could ask for.
My house felt different showing up with Alyssa at my side, and even though we kept casual conversation like everything was normal, it still made my heart feel like it was going to explode. I felt uncharacteristically nervous, awkward, leading her inside, and I got my boots off before I turned to her and said, “Well, I guess I’ll go… take that shower then. But, well. Make yourself at home.”
Her eyes gleamed. “Just one thing real quick first.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You’ve gotten my attention.”
“Likewise,” she laughed, and she fell into me, knocking the air out of my lungs with a passionate kiss. I caught her, head spinning, and I flushed at the sensation—her lips moving softly against mine, the low hum of vibration as she murmured contentedly against my lips, her hands on my hips, caressing up my sides, and then down to my hips…
“Oh,” was what I managed to say after she pulled back away, her fingers to her lips.
“Is it too forward if I say I want to return the favor? From the restaurant?”
