Page 76 of The Kidnapped

“You’ve been thinking about me?”

“With everything going wrong in my life right now, you are the one thing that’s been going right. Until I messed it up, that is.”

Hollis looked down when she felt Raleigh’s soft hand take her own free one.

“I’m sorry. I overreacted. You asking me to talk about something other than Eden wasn’t something I expected. I should have, but I didn’t, so it threw me off, and I didn’t know how to react. It was like a punch to the gut that you, of all people, would ask me to talk about something else because you’ve always been so great about this whole thing. But it was wrong of me to expect that, on our first date, we’d only talk about these things that have happened to us instead of the fact that I was in an all-girl band in college that ended because our lead guitarist broke up with the bassist, and it was one of those awful breakups where people throw things at one another.”

Hollis met Raleigh’s eyes and said, “It’s not that I think we should never talk about this stuff…”

“I know. It was a bad initial reaction on my part, and I am very, very sorry for it. The thought that I’ve screwed this up permanently has been the predominant one in my mind all week. Even when I was working, losing more clients, or checking on Eden’s website, you were in my mind, Hollis. And I think that means something.”

“What?”

“That this could be something, and I’d be so stupid to ruin it. Can I maybe have a second chance at that first date?”

Hollis wasn’t sure what to believe anymore, and she’d never been the person to state her true feelings out loud. Growing up with a father who didn’t exactly open up to her or encourage her to do the same meant that she’d gotten used to pushing her feelings down. Just telling Raleigh that she liked her had been a major achievement. For a minute there, Hollis had thought she deserved a badge for it, but then, things had gone so badly that night, that she’d planned on giving any badge she had earned back to whomever was responsible for giving them out.

“Raleigh, I’m scared,” she decided to say honestly. “I took you at your word the first time when you said you couldn’t. Then, you said yes, and we went out, but that didn’t go well. Now, you’re saying you want this? I don’t know what to believe, and that scares me. What if I put myself out there again, and you change your mind again?”

“I won’t,” Raleigh replied. “I can’t guarantee that this will work or be forever, Hollis, but I know how I feel when I’m with you. This week, I also found out what it was like without you, and you know what I missed the most?”

“What?”

Raleigh placed her wineglass back on the counter and did the same with Hollis’s before she placed both of her hands around Hollis’s waist.

“Laughing with you. Despite everything, we always seem to laugh together. I’ve missed your laughter this week.”

“Laughter also comes with friendship, Raleigh. You don’t have to date me to hear me laugh.”

“No, but my hands are on the small of your back right now, and I’m rubbing your soft skin up and down. It feels amazing, and I don’t do this with my friends.”

Hollis realized that Raleigh’s hands were on the small of her back, sliding up and down her bare skin there, under her shirt. Raleigh leaned in and pressed her forehead to Hollis’s.

“I’ll apologize for that night as many times as you need me to, and I’ll tell you over and over that I want this, if you need to keep hearing it, but I don’t want to live my life in this dark routine anymore. And I don’t just want a friend to help me through it, Hollis. I want you.”

Hollis swallowed and said, “Then, we should go out on another date.”

“What are we doing right now?” Raleigh asked.

“I think this is the conversation before the date,” Hollis replied, wrapping her arms around Raleigh’s neck.

“But there’s wine… I can also make us some popcorn, and there can be a movie,” Raleigh said, moving just an inch closer. “And there can be kissing, if you’re interested at all in that.”

Hollis smiled and said, “That is tempting.”

“Only tempting? I’ve lost my touch, then, since I was in Disgruntled Dolls. I used to get phone numbers left and right,” Raleigh teased.

Hollis pulled back and asked, “You did, didn’t you?”

Raleigh nodded and said, “Drummers get all the girls. You didn’t know that?”

Hollis shook her head seriously and said, “I’m scared, Raleigh.”

“I know, babe,” Raleigh replied. “Just tell me what you need right now.”

“I’m so tired,” Hollis admitted. “Just, like, the most tired I’ve ever been in my entire life.”

Raleigh moved a hand up to Hollis’s cheek and cupped it.

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