Page 70 of Beachside Kisses With My Best Friend

Oh. Donny. Right. I start walking again. “Did you deface a building?”

“No.”

“Kick a puppy?”

“What? No, of course not!”

“I get that reaction over kicking a puppy but not murdering someone?” I tease, gripping the straps of my backpack and looking over at him. “Where are your priorities, Jay?”

“Hey, when we’re watching thriller movies,you’rethe one who’s always way more concerned about one of the animals dying than the people. Remember when we watched that opening scene of the originalTwistermovie, and you said ‘at least the dog didn’t die’ when the girl’s dad gets sucked up by the tornado?”

“What? I was glad the dog didn’t die.” I stop at the sight of a huge stick on the path, pick it up because it reminds me of something Ryder would snatch. “Besides, this is why I watch romcoms. People don’t die in romcoms.”

“Except that creepy zombie movie you insist is a romcom but is literally filled with dead people.”

“Are zombies really dead, though? AndWarm Bodiesis totally a romcom!” I jab the air with the stick, and Jordan snatches it from my hands.

“Whoa there, Braveheart. Settle down.” Laughing, he tosses the stick aside, much to my protest. “Thanks, Lee. I needed that.”

“Feel better?”

“I do, actually.”

“Ready to tell me what terrible, terrible thing you did?”

Stopping along the side of the trail, he sticks his hands into his pockets and leans against a massive tree. “I went to a bar one town over and got completely wasted.”

Oh, Jay. To him, with a father like his, thatwouldbe worse than almost anything. Copying his position, I face him. “Okay.” I hate that my actions turned him to drink. But this isn’t about me. It’s about him, and I want to hear him out, however painful it is.

His chest rises and falls more rapidly than before. “That bar…that night.” Jordan glances up into the treetops as if trying to find the light. Then his eyes settle back on me. “That’s where, and when, I met Georgia.”

Oh, peanut brittle.

But the timing tracks. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. Probably I was just so lost in my own grief…

He continues. “We were both sitting at the bar, both drinking to drown our sorrows—hers over a recent breakup. I felt like I’d lost you too, like all hope of ever seeing you happy again was gone. Like I’d endangered our friendship. And I just wanted it all to go away, you know? The pain. And here was someone who seemed to understand. Who wanted to help me escape. Who wanted to escape herself.”

I swallow, throat thick with emotion. “So, you…?”

“I’m not proud of it, but yeah. It was mutual and all that, but I still can’t help but feel like I used her. I was drunk, but I was still aware enough to know I was acting like the kind of guy I never wanted to be.” He swipes a hand along his forehead, under the brim of his hat. “The next morning, she was gone from our hotel room, and I thought I’d never see her again. Then six weeks later, she showed up in town and told me about Ryder.”

“And you stepped up.”

“I did what any decent guy would do.”

“That’s not true, though. A lot of guys would have let her do things on her own, but you changed your whole life to accommodate that little boy.”

“And that little boy has been the biggest blessing in my life. I can’t imagine not having him. Which is why it scares me, this thought that I might lose him.”

“You won’t.” I step forward, grab his hand. “We did everything we could to make sure that won’t happen, remember?”

“Thanks to you.” His fingers trail up my arm and find a home against my cheek as he searches my eyes for something. “Lee, if this changes how you feel about me?—”

“What? Of course it doesn’t.” Lifting up on my tiptoes, I give him a kiss. One filled with promise. “It honestly makes me love you more.”

He steps into the gap between us and crushes my mouth with his before hauling me into his arms. I wrap my legs around him as he backs me up against the tree, kissing me until a gentle rain starts falling. Raindrops dance on my cheeks and weave into our hair, mingling with our laughter as it escapes between kisses. Each soft patter on the ground is drowned out by the sound of our hearts, and the air is invigorating, cleansing us of our doubts and fears. I am alive, vulnerable, and utterly cherished in Jordan’s arms.

“Ready to go home?” he finally says.

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