Page 136 of Friends Don't Kiss

“Nah. I was supposed to get all twelve eggs. You guys kept me from it. She wouldn’t pay me.”

I shut my eyes briefly. “That’s Louise we’re talking about?”

She nods, her gaze fleeting to the sixty dollars in my hand. I give it to her, but I stay between her and the door. “You need help, you go to good people. There’s enough of us around here.”

“Isaac says we need to figure things out on our own.”

Isaac came to work at the bakery with signs of physical abuse last spring. Chris started handling it, so there was no reason for me to step in. Then Isaac’s dad was sent away for a long time in an unrelated matter, which in effect suppressed the source of the problem. As always though, the scars ran deeper. Shame and a sense of isolation are still plaguing this family.

“Isaac is a great guy. I see him at work. But he’s wrong about that. You need something, you ask any of us.” I realize she’s unclear who thisusis. “The Bitch Brigade.”

Her eyes brighten. “Mom talks about you. What you did for the spa last summer.” She giggles.

“Come on, I have a soup that’s getting cold and I’m pretty sure there’s one for you too. You prefer potato-cheddar or cheddar-potato?”

She stays glued to me the rest of the evening and eats way more than just soup—thank god. No one asks questions, and when Colton grabs his wallet to settle our bill, Grace puts her hand on Evie’s shoulder and says, “We’ll give you a ride home, hun.”

“If I wasn’t already totally in love with you, I’d fall again, sweets,” Colton says while he peels my clothes off me. He wanted us at his place, and from the look on him, I didn’t ask why.

“What’d I do now?” I made a fool of him and am ready to leave Emerald Creek. What is there to love?

“The way you took Evie under your wing. She’s who threw the eggs, right? She worships the floor you walk on. I don’t know what you told her, but I’m on her side. You’re the best there is.” He gets to my panties and stretches them to the side, sliding a finger on my clit.

“I didn’t say anything… special.”

“Shut up and enjoy,” he says.

He ends up making love to me like this is goodbye, and it nearly kills me. Two minutes into his caresses and I’ve forgotten the whole Select Board debacle. Everything about Evie. If I didn’t know him better, I’d think the way he kisses every inch of my skin, the sound of his voice when he tells me how beautiful I am, his touch attuned to my every reaction—I’d think all this was to convince me to stay.

But it’s not. Colton’s not that way. He wants what’s best for me, and he trusts me to know what it is.

In the middle of the night, after he’s made me come twice despite my low spirits, and he loses himself inside me with a gravity that’s downright concerning, he whispers, “Even if it takes you thirty years to come back, I’ll be waiting for you.”

My heart nearly explodes from the emotion his words carry. “Colt, don’t say that,” I beg him. Because what if he’s right?

I’ll hate myself if something happens and I don’t come back right away.

But I’d hate myself even more if I stayed here now and gave up on Paris.

“Sweets, don’t beat yourself up,” Colton says. “You couldn’t live with yourself if you said no to that training. I know it. You know it. I wouldn’t want it any differently. Hell, if you said you weren’t going, I’d put you on the plane myself.”

My eyes well up, and clamping my jaw is all I can do not to bawl in his arms.

He runs his fingers in my hair, cupping my head in his hands. “Told you I’d wait thirty years if I had to. Now go and show them.”

fifty

Kiara

Twoweekslater

He hugged me and congratulated me, but I could tell something was… off.

“Colt, you know it’s just three months, right? I’ll get an international calling plan. We can text. Maybe you could visit?” Colton hates the city. He almost dry-heaved when he had to take Chris to Boston last summer and stay overnight. “Never mind—that was a joke.”

He smiles. “We’ll figure it out, sweets. Please promise me that if you get an offer that’s your dream job, you’ll accept it. Wherever it takes you. I don’t want you to feel stuck here in Emerald Creek.”

“I don’t feel stuck—”

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