Page 82 of Puck Your Friend

She stares down at the phone.

Ford turns in his seat. “You’re moving in with us. We’ll take care of moving you out. You don’t need to worry about this.”

She shrugs.“I knew this would happen. All of it. As soon as the truth came out, I knew it would unravel.”

She leans forward, arms braced to her knees.

“My job. My apartment. Every piece of security I built. I thought I could keep it up forever, but the Universe forced my hand.”

I tense at that as she almost sounds like she regrets the last week, but I force myself to remain calm. She doesn’t need us freaking out on her right now.

She drags her hands down her face and looks up.“I’m sorry if that sounded like I don’t want this. Being with all of you; is the only part that feels right.”

I reach down to take her left hand.

Tears cling to her lashes as she glances at each of us.“I just worked so hard to build a life that kept me safe. In a week, it’s gone.”

Logan extends his hand across her lap. His fingers wrap gently around hers. “You don’t owe anyone an apology for surviving. Not even us.”

She blinks down at our hands covering hers. Her grip tightens. “If nothing else. I’m so glad I found you four again. I may be losing everything that I felt was me, but at least I’m gaining back a part of me I thought was lost forever.” She heaves a long sigh. “It’s time I stop running and turn around to face my demons. Without you all here, I don’t think I would have the courage. If it weren’t for you all, I would’ve died in my sleep from those suppressants. I love you guys, more than you could ever know.”

That’s the first time any of us has said I love you. My heart hammers a little. I’m beyond happy a part of me wants to crack a joke to lessen the tension, but I hold it in.

“I love you, too.” To my surprise, we all say it in unison as if we rehearsed it.

She glances around and this a small laugh bubbles out of her. Her scent shifting away from the burnt odor and back to the sweet one I adore.

Wes takes an exit off the highway and pulls into a nearby gas station. He turns in his seat to look at her. “You’ve been carrying all of it alone. From this point on you’ll have us, always. We’re not going to let you fall.”

More tears enter her eyes and this time she doesn’t force them back or try to hide them like she always had as far back as that first day meeting her by the lake. She isn’t running anymore.Her walls are down. For the first time since we were kids, she’s letting us see her hurt. Now we can be here with her, show her it’s okay to feel it, and help her heal.

Chapter 16

Sunlight slips through the rainbow film on the window, spilling colored shards across the nest. They scatter over the bedding and walls in soft patches, pink, green, orange. The center of the nest smells like vanilla, campfires, and clove.

I’m alone, but there’s no tension in it. No cold pocket of fear opening under my ribs, like the mornings I woke up in my apartment. There’s always been a bit of fear that I keep hidden.

Now, I don’t have it at all. My body feels loose. Not in pain or buzzing with failing suppressants. I stretch, one leg sliding out first. I should get up. We’re moving me out of my apartment this morning before they have to go to practice. I’m slow to move as I flip over onto my side. All of this feels surreal.

Everything’s changed, but it hasn’t broken me. I thought it might. I spent so long believing the unraveling could be theworst thing to happen to me, something I wouldn’t recover from. That losing everything might mean the end.

But I didn’tlosethem.

The documentary’s still mine. My boss knows the truth. No one’s knocked on the door or threatened legal action. My apartment complex gave me a deadline to clear out, and I didn’t cry or scream or shut down.

I remember that moment in the car with them. I was tense over the news, but I think it was more over the fact I wasn’t freaking out inside as much as I thought I would.

A smile pulls at my lips. I told them I love them,and they said it back. It wasn’t even something I needed to work up to. I’ve always loved them. Time apart never changed that. If anything, it made it clearer. With age, I can better understand my emotions than I could as a child.

Für Eliseblares from my phone, and I fish it out from under my pillow. It’s Doug. My heart hammers. He probably wants to figure out where and how we can keep working together while I’m remote. Or he wants to say he no longer wants to work with me because I lied. I answer and put the phone to my ear.

“Hey, Doug.”

He clears his throat. “Hey, Fran. I heard you’re out of the hospital. Just wanted to call and check up on ya.”

My throat tightens a little at the consideration. “I’m better. No longer dying. But I can’t come back to work until I can have a meeting with HR. So I have to work remotely and can’t go with you to film or do interviews.”

“HR? How come?”

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