“Oh my god, hi!” she squeals.
Skyler jumps up, shooing Mike out of the booth so he can get out to hug her. “I’ve missed you so much,” he says, bending down to nuzzle his face into the shoulder of her purple scrub top.
“Superstar, you have no idea,” she replies fondly.
Trevor witnesses the sweet moment between them with an ache in his chest.
When Skyler finally lets her go, Layla’s eyes land on Trevor, and they somehow don’t lose any of their brightness. “Well, Trev, don’t I get a hug?”
He gulps down all his conflicting emotions and slides out of the booth. When she wraps her arms around his waist, it feels for a second like the last five years haven’t happened. He hugs her back, struggling to find his voice.
“It’s good to see you,” he tells her after they break apart. Good, and a lot of other more complicated things too.
“It’s been forever,” she says.
Trevor tries not to flinch at the reminder that the last five yearswerereal. That he and Skyler were supposed to have a forever together, but instead they had a forever apart.
He manages a nod in response.
Mercifully, she turns her attention to Mike then, who’s sitting back down in the booth. Her grin returns. “And hey to you too, big guy. Mind if I sit by you?” She slides in without waiting for an answer, forcing him to scoot over.
“What have I told you about flirting with my security?” Skyler chastises her, and Trevor recognizes their familiar way of teasing each other.
When Skyler nods at Trevor to get back in the booth, he realizes they’ll be sitting on the same side now. It’s fine. This is fine.
“Honestly, Trevor,” Layla says to him, reaching across the table to pat his forearm, “I’m so happy you’re here with Sky.”
“Uh. Me too,” he says. And then, because he’s not doing so great with the whole relaxing thing—“We should do shots to celebrate, right?”
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Skyler looking at him, but he refuses to turn and see what kind of look it is.
Layla laughs and says, “We should!”
Then she gets up and runs off to the bar, and when she comes back, she sets four tiny glasses on the table. The shots look layered, with a darker liquor on the bottom and a lighter one on top.
“Mind Erasers!” she announces, sitting down beside Mike again.
“Perfect,” Trevor says, reaching for his right away.
He catches Skyler’s hesitation before he picks up his own shot. But Skyler’s an adult, and no one’s forcing him to take it. Trevor doesn’t want to worry about Skyler’s former drinking problem right now. Or anything else.
The three of them clink glasses before throwing back the shots. As he sets his empty glass down, Trevor notices Mike didn’t touch his. So he grabs it and downs it without hesitation, over the sound of Skyler’s protest.
He’s a little looser now as Layla tells them about her shift at the hospital. When he feels Skyler’s thumb pressing into the side of his thigh, he knows it’s Skyler’s way of checking on him, but it’s not necessary. Because he’s fine. And he’d be even more fine with another drink. He makes quick work of finishing off his first one, then interrupts whatever Skyler’s saying to Layla to tell him to move.
Skyler raises an eyebrow at him, and Trevor sighs. “I want to get another drink.”
“Are you sure you don’t need to slow down?” Skyler asks gently. “Maybe wait a bit?”
“Are you my mother?” he snarks back, making Skyler’s eyes go wide. Andshit.His mom. Add that to the list of things he doesn’t want to think about right now. “Just let me out.”
Skyler shakes his head, and Trevor’s about to go off on him, but then he says, “Mike can get it for you.”
“Oh, okay, yeah.”
Trevor probably shouldn’t do face-to-face time with the bartender. The alcohol made him forget. But forgetting feels good, so when Mike returns with another Jack and Coke for him, he starts sucking it down purposefully. He sits there listening to Skyler and Layla bantering with each other as he drinks, and he forgets to be worried about being caught in public with Skyler. He’s happy that Skyler’s happy.
Chapter Twenty-Two
