Page 88 of Finding London

She lets out a disapproving sound. “It’s not really all it’s cracked up to be. Ninety percent of the days in Florida are scorching and humid as hell. The princess dress is heavy, hot, and stinky. The makeup that I have to cake on my face makes me sweat more than I already do, and to top it off, I get to have thousands of grimy kids’ hands pawing me all day. I’d gladly leave that job to move up here.”

“Well, maybe you should wait until I get back. The winters up here are no joke, and if you thought that the winter months in Texas were cold, just wait until you live through one up here. There’s no point in being here and suffering, like I know you would be, if I’m not here anyway.”

She groans. “Why did you choose to be stationed here?”

I chuckle. “Cooper wanted to live with Maggie, and he’s really all I had, so I agreed to follow him up here. Actually, you get used to the winters. I kinda dig ’em. I love snowboarding and skiing.”

“If you say so,” she says with definite speculation lining her voice. “Maybe I will wait until you get back.”

“How long can you stay?”

“I have a week’s vacation.”

“All right. Then, we have a week to figure out what you want to do.”

“Sounds good,” she agrees.

The two of us talk for hours, both eager to know every detail of the other’s life that we missed in the past eight years. When I think about it, it seems like we’ve been apart for a lifetime. The person I was back then and the person I am now are so vastly different. But, at the same time, lying here with Sarah in my arms feels like no time has passed at all.

I’m not sure how late we stay up, talking, but at some point, we start to drift off. Right before sleep takes me, I am overcome with complete and utter contentment, and for the first time since I was a little boy, a powerful emotion is present in my chest. It feels a little like hope.

Hope is the building block for miracles, but it is also the catalyst for disappointment, depending on which way the coin falls. But, maybe for once, the coin will land in my favor.

London

“Love makes me weak—it’s true—but it’s in that fragility where I will find my true strength.”

—London Wright

“How do I look?” I ask Paige.

“You’re a hot babe, as always,” she responds.

“I don’t need you to blow smoke up my ass, Paige. I need the truth,” I say, irritated.

“Rawr,” Paige growls like an angry cat. “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”

“You rarely cook.” I roll my eyes. “Sorry. I know my earlier comment was a tad bitchy, but I need honesty.”

Paige lets out an exhausted sigh. “I was being honest.”

I exhale loudly, pouting out my lips. “Okay. Just checking.”

“You’re so annoying sometimes.”

“Thanks,” I say as I spray myself with more body spray. “I’m sorry. This is serious. I need to be hotter than everyone else today.”

“Loïc doesn’t love you only because you’re pretty. I’m quite sure he likes you as a person as well. You should focus on that aspect a little more.” She gives me a pointed stare. “You have no reason to worry. Seriously, stop getting your chickens in a twist.”

“Isn’t it panties?”

“What’s panties?”

“Ugh, never mind.” I let out an exhausted groan. “I’m sorry. I don’t like feeling like this. This is new territory for me, and I don’t like it. I’m telling you, when you meet her tonight, you’ll see. She’s a freaking model.”

“So what? There will always be tons of gorgeous women in this world. You can’t freak out every time Loïc talks to one.”

“I know, I know. But they have history.”

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