Page 63 of Fool Me Once

When I push myself back to standing, she shoots up and wraps her arms around my waist, burying her face in my sweatshirt.

“Thank you, Smith. I don’t deserve you.”

Reaching down, I push her chin upward gently and force her to look at me. “You do. You deserve the world, Firefly. And someday soon, I promise you, you will remember that.”

Understanding flashes in her eyes, and she buries her face in my chest again. “I promise I’m going to be better for you. I’ll be everything you deserve.”

“You’re already enough, Gem. You will always be enough.” I kiss the top of her head.

Even though, more than anything, I wish I weren’t leaving her in a house down the street and that she was coming home with me, I know this is what she has to do. So, as much as it hurts, I give her my blessing—even though she doesn’t need it.

“But you deserve to take as much time as you need to get to a place where you don’t have to carry the pain that has been weighing you down. I’ll wait as long as it takes. Just promise me that you’ll come find me when you’re ready.”

“I swear it,” she sobs.

Letting her go is like cutting a limb off. But I’ll be here for her whenever she’s ready to come back.

Two Weeks Later

“These Irish nachos are hitting the spot,” Poppy hums, closing her eyes as she takes another bite of her own appetizer.

Meanwhile, Paige, Maci, and I are sharing an order of nachos.

Amelia was offered some, but said, “Sour cream is gross.”

“I agree, minus your nasty jalapeños,” Paige says, nodding toward the extra jalapeños Poppy asked for on hers. “I don’t know why I’ve never been here before, especially when it’s like, what, five minutes from the stadium?”

“Four,” Poppy grumbles through her full mouth, covering it with her hand. “I looked it up when we got here to know when we’d have to leave.” She presses her finger to her phone to see the time. “We have twenty-five minutes, and then we need to head that way.”

Maci frowns, glancing at the time displayed on Poppy’s screen. “But that would have us there, like, forty minutes early.” Realization washes over her face, and she chuckles. “I forgot you like to be insanely early. My bad.”

“Yeah, I do.” Poppy nods. “And you know what I hate? Having to shuffle past a shit ton of people to get into my seat. It’s awkward, and I don’t like it. If we’re there early, we can avoid my ass having to brush past some horny old man named Harold.”

“Poppy said a bad word,” Amelia says, looking up from her coloring book. “You owe me a quarter.”

“I don’t have a quarter,” Poppy starts to tell her before her eyes light up. “But guess who does. Uncle Walker. He has lots of quarters, so you can ask him for one after the game.” She raises an eyebrow. “Better yet, ask him for ten bucks.”

“Nice save,” Maci mutters before looking down at Amelia.

Even though Maci has only been dating Amelia’s dad, Logan, for a few months after she started off as her nanny, it’sso obvious how much she loves the little girl. Not that I can blame her. I don’t have a lot of experience with kids, but she’s one of the coolest I’ve ever met.

“But Uncle Walker didn’t say a bad word. You did.” She points her tiny little finger at Poppy.

Maci takes Amelia’s hand in her own and tries to stop laughing. “All right, Amy, she gets it. Poppy will be sure to pay up next time she comes over, deal?” Maci says sweetly before handing her a few crayons. “Finish your picture for Daddy. He’ll love it after his game.”

She takes the crayon, completely unimpressed. “Fine,” Amelia huffs. “But only if he wins.”

As we all laugh because she’s the sassiest but sweetest girl in the world, my phone begins to buzz, and I pull it out to find Saylor is FaceTiming. Grinning, I swipe the screen and prepare for my friend group to all fight to talk to her first about how her job is going.

And I prepare for her to give me a jealous look because I’m out with friends who aren’t her.

Which is exactly what happens.

Typical Saylor. God, I love her.

“Goddamn you, Smith!” Logan yells from across the locker room, and I do everything I can just to keep my shit together.

Even though Gemma is just down the road and I’ve seen her a few times, it still sucks ass that she’s gone. I needed some fun. I needed a good laugh.

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