“Okay.” I lowered back down.
As the girls left to go the restroom and I heard the door open and shut, I was actually glad for a moment alone to take this in. This was the exact place my entire world changed forever. I ran my hands over the top of the table, when I heard a familiar voice.
“Thanks for saving me a seat.”
I turned around and saw Peyton standing there. And she was wearing my Roger Rabbit shirt.
50
PEYTON
I wishI had a photo of Maddox’s expression. He lookedreallysurprised that I was there. When I came up with this idea, I thought for sure Maddox would know that something was up.
Why would he think that he was going to a playdate at his alma mater? But Lizzy and Lina had both assured me that he would be none the wiser. They were right.
It took a second for him to recover from the shock, but then the corners of his lips turned up in a half-smile. “I didn’t.”
I chuckled and winked as I lowered down next to him, just like he’d done to me. “Yes, you did.”
“What are you doing?” He asked. “Did you finish your work?”
Wow, he really had no clue what was going on. This was better than I could have imagined.
“Um, I didn’t have any work. This was a setup.”
“It was?” he looked around, probably to see what other surprises might be in store.
“Yeah, and Lina and Lizzy are in on it.”
“They are?” he looked back at me.
“Yep.” I took a deep, fortifying breath. “Maddox, I know that you said that it would be better to be best friends with your soulmate than to not have me in your life at all, but I think that’s crap.”
His lips twitched. “Crap?”
“Yes. I do. I’ve spent the past twenty years of my life knowing that there was no way we could be together. I was in a relationship where I felt safe because I knew it would never compete with what we’d shared. I knew that it could never hurt me. Now I know that it didn’t matter who I was with, I could have been dating Chris Evans or Zac Efron and if it ended, I would have been fine, because they weren’t you.
“I might have borrowed this shirt, but twenty years ago I gave you something and you never gave it back. My heart. So anyone I’ve been with never had a chance, because my heart’s been with you the whole time.”
“Pey—”
“No.” I held up my hand. “Let me finish, I need to get this out.”
I could see that staying quiet was driving him crazy, but this was going somewhere and if he interrupted me, I wasn’t sure I’d have the nerve to get there.
I took another breath. “I know twenty years is a long time, but Nonna told me about a friend of hers who she plays Mahjong with, Joanna, and she just reconnected with someone she was withfiftyyears ago. Apparently, he was a Chippendale’s dancer and she was a Playboy bunny.”
“Yeah, Mrs. G and Tom.”
I blinked. “You know them?”
“Can I talk?” he asked.
I smiled. “Yes.”
“Yeah, Mrs. G or Mrs. Garret was Alex’s foster mom before he came to the home, she had to move to take care of her sister who was ill back East when he was eleven. But when Ash and AJ died, she came back to San Francisco to help him. And Mr. Burke, or Tom, is Sadie’s dad. I was there when they saw each other again for the first time.”
“You were?”
