Page 13 of Seven of Hearts

He was one of the two people I owed everything to. The reason I held myself to a high standard.

My phone lit up, and my heart did a strange flip at the thought that it might be Leah.

It wasn’t.

The number calling me had called so many times that my phone identified it without me having ever added it to my contacts.

Federal Correctional Complex, Butner.

I knew as soon as I answered that an automated voice would ask if I wanted to accept the collect call.

Today, I didn’t. Not with Kristin standing three feet away from me. Will glanced at my phone and lifted an eyebrow, but didn’t say a word.

I hit the decline button and stuffed my phone in my pocket.

“You disappeared at the end of the wedding,” Kristin said. “Zoey was looking for you.”

She probably didn’t think to look at the hotel bar.

“I went back to my room.” It wasn’t a complete lie, but it was better than the truth.

The truth that I couldn’t stop thinking about.

Why couldn’t I stop thinking about her again? It was just supposed to be one night. A little stress relief. Maybe indulging a fantasy that rose to the surface every time I came back to Beaufort to visit and saw Leah around town or with my sister.

But indulging in the fantasy didn’t make it go away the way I thought it would. My phone burned in my pocket as I thought about what I had found the morning after.

“I should probably hit the road and get to the airport,” I said as I set my mug in the sink. "I just wanted to swing by before I left town.”

Kristin’s eyes flashed with sadness and worry. It was the parental mask she had been forced to wear far too early. “You’re flying back here for your birthday, right? We’re having everyone over to celebrate.”

“Of course,” I said as I offered her a reluctant hug.

Kristin wrapped her arms around me and squeezed as hard as she could. “Miss you already, Lo.”

Will loomed behind her, waiting in line to say goodbye. He had always been able to read me like a book, which didn’t bode well for the fact that I was still unsettled after the weekend.

“Drive safe. Let us know when you get on the plane and when you land in Chicago,” he said as he swapped places with Kristin and gave me a tight hug.

“Thanks for the coffee,” I said as I grabbed my keys. “Love you guys.”

I hurried out to the rental car I had snagged from the airport at the beginning of the week, and peeled away from the house as fast as I could.

There was something about being back home that made my skin itch. It made me feel like a stranger in my own body, even though I had been here for the first two decades of my life.

All I had ever wanted to do was leave.

So I did.

The wheelsof my carry-on clicked across the tiled floor as I made my way down the hallway of my apartment building. It was blissfully quiet after the chaos of two airports and being trapped on a plane for three hours.

I fished my keys out of my pocket and let myself into my unit. I walked through the empty living room and went straight for my bedroom. The bed was still neatly made like I’d left it.

Will made his bed every morning. And somewhere back in my seventeen-year-old brain, I thought that if I made my bed every morning, I’d turn out okay too.

My place was a far cry from the Taylor Creek Inn, that was for sure. It was definitely a far cry from the warm chaos that was Leah Holloway.

The air was heavy since I was still holding out on turning on the AC for the summer. Anything I could do to keep the power bill as low as possible.

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