Page 58 of Return to Us
“Yes, but I’d rather you didn’t do that.” The wind whips around me, causing my hair to fly in my face and a shiver to crawl over my skin. “Come on, let’s go inside and get you some water.”
“No,” Delia says with defiance. “I’m not going back in there so he can pat me on the head again.”
“He patted you on the head?”
She nods. “Like I was the same age as Amelia.” Her voice breaks at the end, and she crumples in my arms.
I hold my friend, hating that she’s in pain. “You may love him, but why?”
She sniffs and then looks back at the event room. “Because he’s everything I want. Because he made me feel beautiful, special, and he talked to me for hours that night we kissed. It was like the world was right and it’s never been the same since then.”
I pull her along with me, guiding her back to the warmth of the building. “He doesn’t deserve you if he doesn’t see you for the woman you are now.”
“Tell my heart that.”
I pull her in for a hug, both of our teeth chattering from the cold. “I know better than anyone that our hearts don’t listen to our heads.”
“And what does your heart cry out for?” Delia asks.
Grayson. Always Grayson.
“Something I can’t have.”
Chapter 14
Jessica
My phone pings with a text, and I grin.
Jacob: So, how is my favorite headcase?
Me: Good! No headaches in a week!
Jacob: That’s great. How about the nightmares?
Yeah, that part is no different.
Me: Same.
My phone rings and Jacob’s face fills the screen.
“Hey.”
“Hey. So, the nightmares are still bad?” he asks.
Jacob, Elliot, and Jose are the only people who can really understand what I’m dealing with. We lived it together and had to come out on the other side. I don’t remember that much after I bashed my head, but I do know that, if it weren’t for those three men, I would’ve died. And for that, I owe them and am always honest about what’s going on.
“Yeah, but my doctor thinks it’s normal, and they’re not getting worse, at least.”
“Still.”
“Yeah, still.”
“What’s new in Willow Creek?” he asks.
I fill him in on the job, the beach trip, and the charity dinner that Grayson didn’t attend. Jacob listens, asking a few questions here and there. Mostly, we discuss how I had to practically carry Delia out of there and have Alex drive us home.
For hours, she alternated between crying in my arms and getting sick from drinking too much. I hated seeing her like that. She was so sad and I wished I could make it better.
