Page 16 of True Hearts

“I don’t know what to say.” My chest grows tight. I don’t understand all the things I’m feeling at the moment. It’s overwhelming, but I think in a good way, but scary too.

“Then don’t say anything, love.”

I nod. He smiles, leaning down to press a kiss to my mouth, taking a part of me with it. One I know I’ll never get back.

ChapterThirteen

GRAHAM

“Nat hated me before we met.” Luna takes a sip of her mango mocktail after placing that zinger out there.

“Hate’s a strong word.” Nat’s drink is nonalcoholic too.

“Strong dislike then. You poured a beer on my lap.”

“It was an accident. I’ve told you that a million times.” Nat looks aggrieved. Dylan reaches out and pats her head in sympathy.

“Okay, you accidentally poured a beer on my lap after we were introduced.” Luna leans over to me and says in a stage whisper, “It was no accident.”

I nod in acknowledgement. “Why’d she hate you?”

“Because Luna stole my boyfriend. I’d been seeing this cute boy from my bio class, and then suddenly”—Nat snaps her fingers—“he dumps me. The next thing I know, he’s eating lunch at the cafeteria with this bombshell.”

“See, you did dump the beer on purpose. Do you hear that?” Luna turns to me again, and I nod, but this time I’m frowning. A boyfriend?

A quick look over at Dylan reveals he’s wearing a similar unhappy expression. He’s also stopped knitting.

“What’s this about a boyfriend?”

“Oh, he was really cute. About five ten, curly hair, and the most ador—” Nat shuts up when she sees the glower on Dylan’s face. “I mean, I thought he was cute back then, but not now. Right, Luna? He was cute like you’d think baby lambs are cute.”

Luna, sensing the danger for her friend but not for herself, hops right into the fire. “Very much like a child. We were all interested in taking care of him, not for dating purposes. Not really. He was just nice to be around. When you talked, he was an attentive listener, and he was actually really funny. I?—”

Dylan’s chair legs scrape loudly against the marble tiles as he rises and walks out of the living room. Nat follows right behind. “You’re not jealous, are you? It was years ago.”

“I’m not jealous,” he replies, but no one believes that.

I laugh to myself and glance over at Luna to see if she’s enjoying the moment too, and she is, but not the moment with me. Instead, her chin is in her palm and her gaze is unfocused as if she’s lost in her memories of that boy from college. Her first love?

I clear my throat loudly.

She startles. “Something wrong?”

“Baby lambs are not cute.”

“Jealous?” She gives me a cheeky grin.

I cross my arms over my chest. “Yes, very.”

She looks surprised that I admitted it. I shrug. “What’s the point in lying?”

“You’re not jealous of Michael.”

“Because you don’t have a silly, lovesick expression on your face when you think of Michael.”

Luna presses her fingers to her cheeks. “I do? It was in college, and I barely remember what he looked like.”

“Let’s keep it that way so I won’t be forced to do something that puts me in jail.”

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