Page 48 of Stay for Me
She takes a step back at the same time as I do. “I should go.”
Brenna’s hand is on her throat, and her head bobs. “Okay.”
“I’ll be back next week for auditions.”
And I walk out of the room before I do something really fucking stupid.
Chapter Twelve
Brenna
“Because I’m a fucking idiot!” I reply back to Cybil when she asksagainwhy I didn’t kiss him.
“Let me get this straight, you like him, he tells you how gorgeous you are, hetellsyou that he wants tokissyou, and you say . . .”
“I want to, but I can’t.”
She rolls her eyes and groans. “You, my friend, are an idiot.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Do you?”
I glare at her. “Yes, Cyb, I know.”
“Because Jacob Arrowood is the hottest guy in the world. I’m sorry, even being married, I’d have kissed him before he could realize his mistake.”
It must be nice to be Cybil. “Yeah? Even if Reggie were gone? Even if your entire life suddenly dropped out from beneath your feet? Because I can tell you that all that self-assured bullshit wouldn’t be there anymore.”
That’s the thing, if Luke were alive and I never had to actually worry about it being a possibility, I would say the same shit.
Cybil’s tone softens but still has that toughness. “Maybe not, but are you going to live your life this way? Are you always going to be afraid to put yourself out there? This is honestly the perfect first relationship or whatever after Luke.”
My eyes go large and jaw drops open.
“No, listen to me,” Cybil says quickly. “He’s there for what? Four and a half more months. That’s it. It’s a good small window to get your feet wet. You know he’s leaving. You know that he has no intention of staying there, and you’re sure as hell not moving again. So, it’s perfect.”
I release a heavy sigh. “And then what?”
“He leaves and all that good sex and fun allows you to make way for the right guy. Look, you are going to want to date at some point, but that little town is not brimming with men, right?”
“Right, and I don’t know that I would ever want to date someone from here.”
Cybil smiles. “Exactly! So, this solves your problems. You can get back on that horse, get ridden well, and then find a new mount. It’s like Daddy always says, you can learn to try or die trying.”
I roll my eyes. “What the hell? That one makes no damn sense!”
She shrugs. “I’m not sure about that one either, but my point is that this scenario might just be perfect.”
Perfect is not the word I’d use. “Cybil, I got married at eighteen because I got pregnant. I have never dated and don’t know how casual even looks. I don’t know that I can go from the love of my life to a guy who is leaving in four and a half months.”
“You just said it. You don’t know how to do casual, and this wouldn’t have any other option than being that.”
Maybe she’s right or maybe she’s insane. “All he said was that he wanted to kiss me. He didn’t say anything else. Let’s just . . . not get ahead of ourselves.”
She laughs. “Yeah, Adonis wants to kiss you but nothing else, sure, we’ll go with that.”
“Who is Adonis?” Sebastian’s voice sounds from the doorway.
