Page 112 of My Silver Lining

We were both packing up and going back to our regular lives.

And that’s what I asked for. What I wanted.

But come on, throw a girl a bone.

He could at least fake being a little sad. He probably already had a date for tonight.

Now, I was fuming as I applied my mascara and stormed past him. I slapped the scrunchie into his hand. “Keep it. It’ll be something to remember me by.”

He chuckled like this was a big freaking joke. “It’s your favorite, Lu.”

No. You’re my favorite, you dumb, clueless boy.

“I have more than one, Rafe. It’s not going to kill you to keep one thing of mine, is it?”

He wrapped his fingers around my wrist and tugged me against his chest as his arms came around me. “I know what you’re doing.”

“What am I doing?” I grumped, feeling the lump in my throat grow thicker.

“You’re trying to pick a fight right before we leave for the airport. Of course, I’d love to keep your scrunchie. Hell, I’ll keep anything you want to leave because I’m going to miss the hell out of you.”

I sighed. That was better. “Thank you. I’m just feeling a little anxious.”

“Yeah, it’s a big move. But you’re going to kick ass, and we both know it.”

“That was really nice of your parents to have that going away dinner for me last night,” I said, sniffing a few times as my head rested on his shoulder.

“It was nice. Everyone is going to miss you,” he said, clearing his throat. “Henley was pretty quiet.”

“She and I always hate saying goodbye.” I shrugged, stepping back and swiping beneath my eyes as a single tear broke free. “But she’s coming to visit me as soon as I’m settled.”

“That’s what she said. That’ll be fun.” He stared out the bedroom window as if he were a million miles away.

I tried to shake off my funk as I followed him out to the kitchen, and he poured us each a cup of coffee. The framed photo of him and me out by the river that Henley had taken just days before was sitting on the counter. She gave each of us a copy. I already packed mine, and I stared down at his: my back to his chest as I tipped my head back and kissed him. We were both wearing white tops and jeans, the water splashing at our ankles,as if we were in our own world. We hadn’t even realized she’d snapped the photo.

We looked happy.

Ridiculously happy.

My phone rang, and it was a FaceTime call from Jared. He, Clara, and Monique all came into view just as Rafe moved to stand behind me so we could both say hello.

“Bonjour, bitches!” they all shouted at the same time.

“Hey,” Rafe and I said with a sliver of their enthusiasm.

“Oh, my, we’re in a mood this morning,” Jared said.

“No, we’re fine. We just didn’t get a ton of sleep.” I shrugged.

“I’ll bet you didn’t, with that handsome devil keeping you up all night,” Monique said as she waggled her brows.

Rafe and I stared at the screen with zero expression.

I had zero sense of humor at the moment.

“All right, girl, we’re going to let you guys have your time together,” Clara said, shooting a look at the two people beside her. “Call us when you land in Paris.”

“Yes. We want to see you with a baguette in hand, and not Rafe’s baguette,” Jared said as he barked out a laugh and winked and then gaped into the camera. “Nothing? Really? Rafe’s baguette gets me crickets? Very disappointed in you two this morning.”

---