Page 46 of Twenty Years Later

"I... well, I knew how much you hated being the center of attention and how much you hated having to cross that stage with everyone watching you. And I was just trying to make you laugh and trying to make you forget about all those eyes on you."

She stopped stirring to stare at me, quiet for a minute as she studied my face. "Honestly, that's pretty sweet, especially for a seventeen-year-old..." She glanced at the girls and came closer. Standing on her tiptoes, she whispered in my ear, "asshole."

Now it was my turn to smack her ass with my spatula, and she danced away laughing. Shaking my head, I started to pour my batter onto the griddle that Jayda had set up for me. "You didn't sabotage this thing, did you?"

She shot me an innocent look. "Me? Never."

I wasn't so sure, so I kept a close eye on the pancakes as Jayda used three different pans on the stove.

Once she had poured her pancakes, she looked at me with apologetic eyes. "I'm really sorry I fell asleep like that last night."

"It's okay. I get it. I must be boring company," I teased.

"Yep, justsoboring." She shook her head, her eyes lighting up with her smile. "You know I'm kidding, of course. I'm, well, disappointed because... "

"Because what?"

She carefully slid the spatula under one of her bubbling pancakes. "There's just a lot to talk about."

I felt a rush of nerves with those words. "There is?"

She kept her eyes on the stove as she shrugged. "Well, I mean, I wanted to talk to you, you know, be with you."

Damn it, there it was again. After laughing so much only a minute ago, I had forgotten my worries from before. But just now, it really seemed like she was downplaying something. And I had no idea what.

Was she going to say this whole thing wasn't working for her? Did she want me to go? I had no clue what was going on. And it was driving me batshit crazy.

If there was something we needed to talk about, why hadn't she brought it up on the phone? We'd talked for hours, and I meanhours, over the last six weeks. Why hadn't she mentioned whatever this was?

As I flipped over one of my own pancakes, my stomach churned as I realized something. Whatever it was she wanted to speak to me about must be big, like huge, something that she needed to discuss in person and not over the phone. And that's why she wasn't quite being herself, becausethis thinghad to be on her mind, weighing on her.

Pouring more batter onto the griddle, I vowed to find out today what this thing was. Somehow, I would find a way to be alone with her, without interruptions. Maybe it wouldn't be until tonight.

But I told myself even if Jayda fell asleep on the couch again, I would wake her this time... because we needed to get this out in the open. Whatever it was. Even if it destroyed me.

Chapter Sixteen

Alex

"You definitely win," I said as I bit into another one of her delicious pancakes. "These are far superior to mine."

Jayda grinned at me from her seat at the small table in the corner of the kitchen. "Want to know my secret ingredient?"

"Nope."

"No?"

"You'll just have to be the pancake maker whenever we're together."

She shook her head at me as Audrey came back into the kitchen then snuck away with two pancakes in her hands.

"I hope one of those is for Gabby, at least," Jayda said, taking a sip of her tea.

"Don't worry. Gabby isn't shy about letting me know she's unhappy about something."

"And thank God for that." Jayda laughed. "I love these little strong-willed girls. It's so different from how I grew up, you know?"

"It's definitely a different era from our childhood," I agreed.

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