Page 85 of The Thought of You

“Long story short, he asked me out, and we went to dinner, where he cried over his divorce for an hour. As it turned out, he’d only been wearing a suit the day I met him because he was going to meet his ex-wife and attorney.”

“So, what was the problem? He was single, at least.”

“Being single is important, but it’s not exactly the only criteria I need.”

“What else do you need?”

“I need guys to not try to come to bed in their zombie costumes.”

“I knew it!”

“For the record, I did not learn this detail about him firsthand,” she reassures me. “Evidently, it was one of the reasons he and his ex divorced.”

“Sorry that didn’t work out for you. He sounds like he really needed a win.” I stifle a laugh behind my hand, sure my face is red. Pressure builds behind my eyes.

Addie smacks my chest, and I lose the battle. My laughter rips from my throat. “It’s not funny! This is my life,” she bursts. “And to be honest, Zombie Drew might not even be the worst experience I’ve ever had.”

“For the love of God, please tell me more.”

“For your information, it’s not polite to laugh at other people’s misery,” she clips, but I don’t miss the twitch in her lips. She’s enjoying this as much as I am.

“What did I tell you before? I’m not polite.” I lay a clumsy kiss on her mouth, enjoying the faint strawberry taste on her tongue, until I work a giggle loose.

“Fine!” She pushes me back onto my side of the bed. “This is not exactly funny, so you’ll be sorry you asked. I haven’t told anyone this before, either, so give me a break.”

The increasing gravity in her voice as she talks causes a stutter in my pulse, and my smile melts away like the remaining few bites of ice cream in her cup.

“My last boyfriend was Stewart. Things were okay between us, but it wasn’t anything special. We were never going to work forever, but he cut the relationship short when he told me I should be more like my mother.” She gulps and averts her gaze, her tone hesitant.

It’s clear this confession is hard for her.

Hearing it is hard for me too.

“He told me I should be like my mom, who’s more fun and less uptight. Maybe if I loosened up like her, he’d love me.”

I furrow my brows, and the urge to demand his full name so I could throw my first uppercut is on the tip of my tongue.

But she laughs. It holds no life or humor in it like the one she let loose earlier, and I hate that this Stewart is the reason for it. “I guess he did me a favor in the end. I got out of that relationship much sooner than I’d expected, so there’s that.”

“He didn’t know what he had, Lockhart. You’re funny and kind and loyal. You’re?—”

“You don’t have to do that.” She waves me off. “I didn’t tell you just so I could be showered in compliments. I guess I just told you because it felt like it was finally time to let that go.”

“I meant what I said about you,” I whisper. “And I’m glad to be the one to take this burden off you.”

She meets my gaze, and the balls of her cheeks redden.

For the next few seconds, we stare at each other, both of us frozen.

Our breaths even sync up.

She has no idea how special she is, and I can’t stand the wasted time I spent teasing and verbally sparring with her, when I should’ve been worshipping the ground beneath her. She deserves nothing less.

Then again, had we not been at each other’s throats, we wouldn’t be us, would we?

Arguing with her is one of my favorite things about us.

“I think we’ve talked about me enough tonight.” She clears her throat and peers down at her fingers in her lap. “I want to know more about you. I mean, we’ve known each other for basically our entire lives, but I don’t know that much about you.”

---