Page 159 of Crazy for this Girl

“Cal...you were in the military?” she asks me quietly, chin tucked into her chest but so low that only I can hear her.

“Not by choice. I was coming to North Carolina, Laynee. I swear it.”

“You signed up?”

“No.”

“But—”

“Outside,” I beseech her, because I’m within another information drop of losing my entire shit right now. “Everything outside, baby.”

“Is Elliott okay...with his addiction?”

“It was Tanner, but he’s clean now. Got him a job at Grand Regent, and believe it or not, he is trying to show me that he can be an asset to the company. With his mom having cancer, it’s been hard for him emotionally over the past years.”

“I’m so sorry, Cal.” She turns her head to look at me. “That’s where you were…”

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I hear her voice break, and it shatters my heart. “I would’ve—”

“Don’t.” I run my thumb across the top of her hand. “Don’t do that.” A cold Bud Light shows up in front of me, and I grab it from Ryan with my free hand, keeping Laynee’s physical contact with me for as long as possible. “Thanks.”

Ellie lifts her martini in the air. “To hard times. May they always keep us humble and inspire us to be better people.”

We all raise our glasses of whatever beverage we have and drink to that.

“You’re an inspiration,” Ellie tells me. “Going through so much change through a grieving process while having to support your family. I couldn’t imagine all the pressure you must’ve felt to succeed.”

“It’s been a challenge, along with many regrets.”

“Like what?”

I politely smile at her. “I don’t want to embarrass Laynee more than I already have. She tends to want to leave the table when she is.”

Said woman scoffs at that. “It’s not out of embarrassment, Cal, but from needing to get away from your comments so my ears don’t bleed.”

“Laynee, honey, do you want to grab the dessert?”

Alright, so it’s official, Laynee’s mom definitely doesn’t want us together.

Any gossip she can throw around or challenges Laynee has faced, she wants to make sure I know about them like that would deter me from anything.

And she definitely gave us a look when I sat down next to her for lunch.

Too bad she’s gonna be disappointed in the long run.

Laynee begins to rise from her chair, but I give her a small little tug to remain sitting.

Leaning over, I rise from my own chair, smelling her perfume of jasmine, I think with a hint of vanilla. Then I whisper, “You probably won’t come back, so I’ll get it.”

I brush my lips against the shell of her ear, dropping her hand before getting myself into the kitchen, and finding some sort of green jello with chunks of fruit—I think—in the center of the countertop.

And I won’t be having any of this shit.

Bringing it back, I set it in the middle of the table when Beatrice smiles and begins scooping out the weird-ass-looking dessert onto plates for everyone to pass out amongst themselves.

“What in the hell is that?” I hear Laynee mutter next to me. “I need to go.”

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