Page 36 of Promise Me Never

Have fun with my sister?

Were you waiting up for me?

Creeper

I walk out to the porch with a smile on my face. It’s creepy in a cute way that he was watching for me. Not that I’d ever admit it.

Just putting my mind at ease

Well, as you can see I’m home and fine

It was fun

What’d you do?

Ate pizza and gossiped

Oh yeah?

And she asked me to go on a double date with her and this guy from Tinder in Denver

No

I chuckle at the swift response.

I don’t think I asked permission

Your ass literally has my teeth marks in it

And she’s not going on a date in another city with some weird ass guy from a dating app

You’re going to have to figure something out soon because she’s going Friday.

I’ll take care of it

You should go to bed, get rested up for the week

Gonna work me hard?

Yes

Fourteen

LUKE

* * *

Stepping foot inside my sister’s house will never stop being bittersweet and painful. Even with the sharp edges softened by time, the memories still exist. For so long I ran from any reminder of Amy. The closer I get to Eli, the more they trickle back through the cracks in the wall around my heart.

I balance both cups of to-go coffee in my hands as I knock on her blue door. I hear the stairs creak as she makes her way downstairs to the front door. Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and she’s wearing a pair of scrubs.

“Morning,” she grumbles as she takes the cup from my outstretched hand. “If you weren’t holding coffee, I wouldn’t have answered the door.”

“Exactly why I brought it.”

I follow her into the kitchen, noting the two beer bottles on the counter. Eli better not have been driving home last night if she drank one of those. Janey drops a couple pieces of bread in the toaster and then turns around, leaning against the counter.

“What brings you out here so early in the morning?”

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