Page 10 of Come Back to Me

“Friday after basketball practice.”

His shoulders tense up, making it clear to me that he’s not on board with this. Not surprising since this is his best friend we’re talking about here.

“I know you don’t approve of me doing this, but I don’t care. You’re not going to stop me.”

“Trust me, I know when I shouldn’t intervene with a woman on a mission, even if I don’t love the idea of the mission itself.”

“Mm-hm.”

“Okay, I’m hanging up now,” Dani says to Noah.

“Why? I missed your beautiful face.”

“You saw my beautiful face this morning.”

“Am I not allowed to miss my girlfriend, even if I saw her a couple hours ago?”

Dani smiles. “I never said that.”

I can’t believe I’m witnessing the two people who absolutely despised each other when they were kids be all lovey-dovey with each other.

It makes me miss what it feels like to be in love. That feeling in the pit of someone’s stomach and being loved by someone so desperately that they miss you, even when they saw you just hours ago.

I want to be loved like thatagain, but only withGrayson.

“Bye, Princess.”

“Bye, Lover Boy.” She presses the red button, and Noah disappears from her phone screen.

“I cannot believe this.”

“What?”

“Seeing you and Noah like this is weird, but it feels right.”

“I know. There’s a part of me that doesn’t believe any of it is real. He’s a pain in my ass sometimes, but he makes me so happy. I think I’m the happiest I’ve been in a long time.”

“I can tell. I miss that feeling.”

“And what feeling is that?”

I shrug my shoulders, shifting my mouth over to one side of my face. “Being in love.”

“I’m sure you do.” A tender smile slowly grows on Dani’s face. “Okay, here’s the plan if everything goes accordingly…” She changes the subject. “I’ll meet you at Tidal Wave Arena at around 4 p.m. on Friday. How does that sound?”

“Yeah, that sounds great. Thank you so much for doing this. I know showing up to your place like this was unexpected, so this means a lot to me. I don’t know if I’d be able to do this alone.”

“Of course, I’m happy to help. I know this isn’t going to be easy, but I’ll be here for you every step of the way.”

I’ll be here for you every step of the way.

I’m not used to hearing that.

When somebody grows up in a well-to-do family like I have, they learn to appreciate what you have and be immensely grateful for it, even though most of the things I had were handed to me. Luckily, I didn’t succumb to Rich Asshole Syndrome, unlike my mother and my brother, Blake.

Blake is the king of assholes. The only similarities we have are the fact that we both have blonde hair and blue eyes. Otherwise, it feels like we’re not related.

I promised myself I’d never end uplike my mother and Blake. My mother married into wealth. All she cares about is being the richest person in Sunset Cove.