Page 42 of What We Broke

I dunk my head under the water, count to ten, then push my body to the other side of the pool.

When I come up for air, I’m directly in front of Leo. An arm’s length away.

“I asked if Zara was okay,” he reiterates.

“Since when do you care about Zara?”

He flinches, and I try to push away the guilt that my honesty carries.

It’s been a year of us dancing around each other, me more than him. Too scared to rock the boat. Too scared to push him away any farther.

But things are changing. His DUI has become a catalyst for all the things we’ve left unsaid and the perfect example of all the ways this could blow up in our faces. The reality is the consequences of his one mistake are too big to be walking around on eggshells anymore.

“You know I’ve always cared about Zara,” he answers, bringing me back to the present.

This time I bite my tongue. I don’t sling my own hurt back at him and tell him he hasn’t cared for a single person since the day Lola died.

Not Zara.

Not Raine.

And especially not me.

Instead, I say something that hurts us both even more. “Do you think you can get Gio to pick you up? I don’t think you should be here when Zara wakes up.”

CHAPTERNINE

leo

THEN

“Areyou sure it isn’t too soon?” I ask.

“For you to marry me?” he responds. “Absolutely not.”

Contradictory to the words that leave my mouth, I can’t help the size of the smile that spreads across my face.

“Jesse,” I scold. “It’s been three months. It’s undoubtedly too soon for you to even utter the word marriage, let alone be so sure.”

Without even looking at me, he reaches over the console and places his hand on my thigh and squeezes. “When you know, you know. But to answer your question, no, it is not too soon for you to meet Zara. I’ve met Gio. What’s the difference?”

“Well, for one, Gio and I don’t have any children together.”

Jesse chuckles. “It’s going to be fine,” he assures me. “I would never introduce you two if I thought it would go anything other than perfectly.”

He pulls the car into a driveway and turns off the ignition. Only fifteen minutes away from his house, this one looks similar, even down to the loveseat and host of children’s toys in the yard.

“Raine is spending the night at Zara’s parents’ place, and it’s casual. No pretenses.” Shifting in his seat, he turns to face me. “Give me your hands.” I oblige and he clasps them together, bringing them to his lips to kiss.

Our eyes meet over the top of our joined hands, and the warmth he exudes from just a simple look settles my nerves.

Jesse and I have only been together for such a minuscule amount of time, but every time we’re together he looks at me with an unspoken confidence and certainty that tells me he’s all in.

He looks at me like he knows something about me that I don’t. And whatever it is, it is the one thing that makes him want to stay.

And I want him to stay.

I’m not used to wanting anything for myself. I usually set my expectations very low, because I’m used to being disappointed. It’s easier to be let down when your hopes aren’t all that high to begin with.

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