Page 70 of My Best Bet

“I’m going to be sick again if you don’t take that off,” I told her.

“Okay, okay,” she said, struggling to contain her grin.

I had to pry my eyes away from her swapping out the hoodies to make the hot chocolate. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught her sniffing the hoodie.

She cocked her head to the side. “What detergent do you use?”

“Huh?”

“Detergent? Which one?” she asked, still studying my hoodie.

“I think it's just Tide Sport.”

Her brow furrowed. “Huh… I thought I tried that one,” she muttered.

When I looked back at her, she blushed deeply, like she just let out a secret.

I busied myself finding marshmallows in the pantry to hide my grin because I didn’t want to scare her away, but I was secretly fucking elated. I wanted to tell her that it was okay, thatI still pathetically noticed whenever a girl wore Juicy perfume because it reminded me of her, but I stayed silent.

When I handed her the steaming hot chocolate and bag of marshmallows, she held the mug close. “Thank you,” she murmured.

“No, thank you. For coming here and saving us. I know it wasn’t right, asking for help like that.” Looking at her stirring her drink at the island, it didn’t feel real. “It feels like I'm hallucinating right now.” I bit back an incredulous chuckle.

Her eyes flicked up to mine, an amused grin on her face. “You’d hallucinate me?”

“Yeah, you’re my angel,” I heard myself mumble, then inwardly cringed.

She stilled. “You can’t say that, Colt.”

“Sorry, I know… slipped.” I pulled out the chair opposite her and mixed up a liquid IV. I needed to rehydrate if I was even going to think about playing in the game tomorrow.

Her shoulders slumped. “I don’t know how to do this… between us,” she admitted.

“I don’t know either, but I’m happy you’re here,” I said candidly.

I was shocked when her eyes filled up with tears and she blinked rapidly to cover them.

“No, b–” I cut myself off before calling herbabe. It just felt so natural to say. “What’s wrong? What’d I say?”

She sniffled and looked away, that cute upside-down smile back on her face despite her red-rimmed eyes. She just looked so small and vulnerable that I couldn’t help it. I pushed my chair back and felt myself rounding the island, going directly to her like she had a magnetic pull over me. I wrapped my arms around her for a hug. My hand automatically went up to cradle the back of her head, and it felt like a time warp back to the old us.

“You okay?” I asked.

She nodded against me. “I missed you,” she said in a strangled voice. “Am I allowed to say that?”

“Yeah, it’s allowed.” I swallowed the burning lump in my throat. “I missed you too.”

“The nostalgia kind of hurts, ya know? I-I can’t fathom that we lost it all.” She wiped the tears from her cheeks. Her tough resolve crumbled and now all of her emotions were tumbling out. “It’s like…” Her chin quivered. “You’re right here in front of me, but I can’t take it that I'll never be with you again.”

“Hey, look at me.” Her teary ocean eyes went to mine. “Nostalgia is good. It means you have good memories. I’ll take bittersweet nostalgia over numbness any day.”

Her face slightly broke again. She took a deep breath and smoothed a hand over her face, like she was trying to accept it.

“Mer.”

She looked at me again with so much sadness on her face.

My heart was beating so loud I could hear my pulse thrumming in my ears. Because there was no going back after I dropped this truth. “Who says you’ll never be with me again? Do I get a choice? Because I'd do it all over again with you.”

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