Page 106 of Absolute Certainty
Sahar let out a groan and leaned against her cream tufted headboard. Willa set her mug down again and joined her on the other side of the bed.
Turning to face Willa, Sahar first readjusted the position her ankle had been propped in. “I’m not nearly as close to Jay as you were to Ethan before everything happened between you two. I think we have a long way to go before we understand each other that closely, but he already means so much to me, Wills. I fully understand why you were hesitant to lose the friendship you two had, and I’m sorry that I assumed it would’ve been an easy thing.”
Willa smiled. “Yeah, but your honesty helped me see that sometimes the scariest things are the ones worth chasing. Sahar, I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, just because you’ve had shitty boyfriends doesn’t mean you’re incapable of scoping out good people. It also doesn’t mean that you have to swear off love to learn some sort of a lesson. Please, tell me you get that by now.”
“But the patterns have to mean something, don’t they?” Sahar whispered.
“The only thing it means is that you’ve opened your heart time and again. The patterns aren’t trying to teach you some twisted lesson.”
Sahar sighed, burrowing her head against Willa’s shoulder this time. “I don’t know what I want to do, but I know that I want to keep him in my life. It’s that simple. I can’t imagine a world where Jay isn’t there.”
Resting her head on top of Sahar’s, Willa added, “Something tells me he feels the same way about you.”
“So wait,you were born in Buffalo but grew up in Sleepy Hollow, and then you all moved to Long Island when you were ten?” Sahar asked Jay while they were seated inside his car. It smelled like some sort of a tree, which she assumed was coming from the green, circular-looking air freshener placed in a small nook underneath the head unit. Being in his car was unsurprisingly comforting. Easy. There was a booster seat in the back, too, a Man City hat for kids, a small cream cardigan—reminders of his life outside the coffee shop. The dad part of him she knew very little about. The part of him shewantedto know.
He nodded. “Correct. Though technically, my apartment is in Huntington.”
“Huh. Fun fact, I always thought Sleepy Hollow was made up? I think I learned it was a real place when I looked it up in primary school or something.”
Jay let out a small laugh. “Where did you grow up?”
“London.”
“So where does your loyalty to Man City come from?” he asked.
Sahar laughed. “My granddad was born in Manchester, so my dad grew up as a Man City fan, and he passed it down to us. Me, rather. My sister isn’t as invested.”
“Nice. Did your parents meet in London?” he asked.
Reaching over to the cup holder, she grabbed her coffee to take a sip. He’d also brought her a strawberry Rice Krispies bar that she was saving for later. “Yeah, in uni.”
Smiling, he looked at her from the driver’s seat. “I hope it means they’re happy and still in love.”
A big grin spread across her face at the thought of her parents. “Yeah, they’re real cuties. Too bad their daughters have shit luck.”And that part you should’ve left out.
“How so?”
“Wait, wait. I’ll answer after. How didyoubecome a Man City fan? I just realized I don’t know this.”
He smiled contentedly, his expression telling her that this part of his past wasn’t so dark. “Patrick’s dad. He watched all the games with Pat and his brother Hayden. They invited me over once my family moved in next door, and it sort of stuck.”
Something in her heart squeezed and ached simultaneously for him. “That’s so lovely. I’m thrilled to know their family has superlative taste.”
“Back to you and that shit luck you were about to tell me about.”
She sighed. “My sister Amina married her childhood best friend, then divorced him a year later because he realized he didn’t want monogamy. And me, well—”
“What about you?”
The traffic ahead made him slow down and look right at her.
“You know all there is to know about my failed endeavors in love,” she said, turning her gaze toward the road. She caught him doing the same through her peripheral.
“I don’t know anything other than your ex is inHatchard’s,and he’s a piece of shit.”
“That should tell you everything.”
He clicked his tongue. “That’s where you’re wrong, sunshine. You’re good at hiding what you don’t want people to see, but those pretty brown eyes of yours tell a different story.”
