Page 15 of Fake It True

Leo gave me a lingering kiss before stepping back. When I lost the feel of his body against mine, I felt bereft. I wanted to yank him back.

On unsteady knees, I pushed away from the wall and fumbled for my keys. He waited until I opened the door and stepped into my apartment before saying, “Good night.”

I clung to a slender thread of reason and managed to tell him good night before closing the door and locking it behind me. I heard his footsteps retreating down the hallway and stairs before I stumbled across the room and collapsed on the couch.

“Oh, my God,” I whispered to myself.

“Well?” Josie asked the following day. Her unruly brown curls were tamed into a ponytail as she smiled at me.

“Well, what?” I hedged.

Josie’s brows hitched up. “Your dinner date, although I know it went well because you blushed as soon as I asked.”

My face had to be fire engine red by this point. “You just said “well”,” I protested.

She burst out laughing as she turned to begin prepping our coffee. I loved it when Josie and I opened the café together. We always arrived early. She made us coffee and we heated up leftover baked goods from the day before.

“Hello!” Luna’s singsong greeting carried from the back. When Luna was here early, we usually got a fresh donut from her.

“Hey!” Josie and I said in unison.

“I’ll make enough coffee for you,” Josie added when Luna peered over the half door behind the register. “I was just asking Casey how her dinner date with Leo went.”

“Josie!” I was pretty sure my face was going to melt off at this point.

Luna caught my eyes and waggled her brows. “Clearly, it went well.” She waved us into the back. “Come in the back while I deal with the donuts.”

We followed her, and I let out a sigh as I looked between my friends. Luna began sliding trays of already prepped donuts out of the refrigerator, and I walked over to help her. “I’ll start the oven?” I prompted.

“Sure thing.”

“Set it at four hundred degrees?” I asked.

Luna flashed me a quick smile with her nod. “Pretty soon you’re gonna be able to bake these yourself.”

I burst out laughing. “I don’t think so. Even though I know the temperature, it’s your magic recipe. My baking skills are average, not amazing like yours.”

A few minutes later, the three of us sat on stools around the stainless-steel table in the kitchen. We were sipping coffee and chatting.

“So, you never did answer me,” Josie pointed out as her perceptive gaze held mine.

I felt a little self-conscious and delayed a few seconds by taking a swallow of my coffee. When I set the mug down, I took a deep breath for courage. “It was really nice. I haven’t actually had like a date in, well, I don’t know, a long time.” A rush of sadness rose inside, and I suddenly wanted to cry.

Luna sensed my distress and leaned over from where she sat beside me, curling her arm around my shoulders and giving me a quick squeeze.

“Are you okay?” Josie’s eyes were concerned as she studied me from across the table.

“I’m fine. We actually talked about the fact that neither one of us has dated in years. Leo has his own trust issues becauseof his ex and…” I paused to gather myself. Even though I wasn’t planning to, I spilled the whole story about what happened to my sister, finishing with, “And, I hate Nathaniel. So much. There’s no way to ever really prove what happened, but I know it did. It blew my world up. It isn’t just that my sister died. Because that will hurt for the rest of my life. Even though I didn’t really trust him, I guess I never thought Nathaniel could do something like that. My parents don’t know. They want me to give him a chance. He’s bullshitting them, telling them he always had a thing for me. Since Callie died, they’ve just been devastated.” When I looked between my friends and saw the combination of sadness and horror on their faces, I rushed to apologize. “I didn’t mean to ruin the morning. I’m sorry.”

Josie leaned forward, setting her coffee down as she held my gaze. “You donotneed to apologize. You’re living with this every day. Part of being friends is telling each other what we’re going through. I can’t believe that happened to your sister. I knew she passed away, but, oh, my God, no wonder it’s hard for you to trust.”

Luna looked pained, her eyes glistening with tears. “I am so sorry. I want to light that man’s life on fire.”

Tears stung my eyes again. This time the sadness was still there, but it helped so much not to be carrying this alone. “Thank you. Sometimes it feels really lonely, and I haven’t felt safe telling anyone what happened.”

“If there isanythingwe can do, we’ll do it,” Josie said, her voice fierce.

“I know.” When I smiled between them, it was bittersweet. “I don’t really think there’s anything I can do about what Nathaniel did, and I can’t bring my sister back.” I paused to take a deep breath. “Having a good dinner date with Leo brought all that up,” I offered, trying to lighten the moment.

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