Page 40 of The Making of Mila and Blake
“Yeah. I’ll be back in a sec,” Tori says, then scuttles off across the restaurant to endure whatever lecture Brian is about to give her.
I lean back in the booth, my head spinning. What the hell is Dad doing having dinner withLeAnne? I know they are on civil terms these days and they would say hello to one another if they passed on the street, but dinner? That is. . . way too much. They wereengagedonce. Why does Dad need to be eating out with his ex-fiancée? And more importantly, whydid he feel the need to keep it quiet from me?
The ding of the bell above the entrance door breaks my bubble of confusion. Savannah enters Jefferson’s and waves enthusiastically once she spots me in the corner. She weaves through tables to join me, her French braids swinging around her shoulders.
“Sorry I’m late!” she pants, flustered. “Sheri needed my help with something before she could let me take off early. You didn’t have coffee already, did you?”
“Nope!” I say, sliding my laptop into my backpack and moving it out of the way so I can rest my elbows on the table. “Tori will be back in a minute.”
“Oh, good!” Savannah says. Only she can be this stressed about running late for a coffee date. Tori doesn’t have the luxury of escaping work like Savannah does, so that’s why we have brought our get-together here. At least Tori can drop by every few minutes to hang with us. “Did you call your mom?”
“Yeah, but she’s sotired from work that she wasn’t that much fun to talk to,” I say, then drop my gaze from Savannah’s.
I have stayed clear of the stables since yesterday morning, mostly to avoid running into Teddy, but also to avoid Savannah noticing the guilt written all over my face. It would hurt her too much if she knew Teddy kissed me and not her, but I can’t help but feel the weight of this secret crushing my chest. It feels like I am lying to my best friend.
Tori must have spotted Savannah, because she arrives back at the booth with a pot of black coffee and three cups. “Okay, I have, maybe, like. . . a minute and half before Brian notices I’m slacking off again,” she says, scooting into the booth next to me. She pours the coffee and distributes a cup to each of us, then whips out packets of sugar from the pocket of her apron. “Don’t worry, Savannah, I remembered your sugar, even though I still believe you are the last person on earth who requires a sugar rush.”
“Hey!” Savannah gasps, snatching the packets from Tori, and her innocent, naive laughter only intensifies my guilt tenfold.
There is no way I can sit here and drink coffee with Savannah as though the guy she is in love with didn’t make a move on me. I can’t sit here and lie to her like that. I won’t.
She and Tori keep teasing each other, but their conversation goes straight over my head. I don’t hear a single word either of them says and I ball my hands together in my lap, trying to ease the pressure building in my chest until I can’t hold back my confession anymore. I squeeze my eyes shut and blurt, “Teddy kissed me.”
The playful bickering stops, leaving the booth silent apart from the sound of the afternoon news report on a nearby flatscreen. Saying it out loud doesn’t make me feel any better. In fact, the lack of response only makes my lungs fight harder for air.
“Yesterday,” I say, forcing my eyes open. A tremor finds its way to my leg beneath the table, and I can’t stop my knee from shaking. Savannah stares directly back at me from the other side of the table, her lips parted in shock. “We were dancing in the kitchen, and he just kissed me out of nowhere. I swear, I didn’t kiss him back. I’m not interested in Teddy. I wouldn’t do that to you, Savannah, but I also didn’t want to hide this from you.”
Savannah slowly clamps her mouth shut, her lips forming a thin line. Through her clenched teeth, it is painfully obvious just how hard she is fighting not to let her hurt show. Her face lightens a shade and her eyes glisten with dampness. “I’ve liked Teddy for months. . .” she says, her voice unsteady. “Since the day he showed up for his first shift. I’ve been building up the courage to tell him that I like him, but then youshow up in town and now he likesyou.” As she talks, her voice cracks and a tear escapes, rolling softly down her rosy cheek. Pain flashes in her bright eyes as they lock on me. “How can I ever stand a chance against someone like you? Because let’s be real, Mila. I can’t blame Teddy. I’d pick you over loser old me too.”
Tori slams her hand down hard on the table, rattling the cups of coffee. “Whywouldn’the pick you, Savannah?” she exclaims, the words strained with frustration. “You’re the coolest person I know! You talk to those damn horses in that high-pitched baby voice of yours, you rockall the funky earrings you wear, and you have the purest heart of anyone I have ever met. You are amazing, soshut up.”
Savannah sniffs and swipes at her cheeks as several more tears fall in quick succession. “You have to say that. But no guy ever likes me first.”
“Savannah,” Tori growls. I flinch as she jumps to her feet and smacks her hands down on the table, leaning forward toward Savannah. “You want someone who’d run through the rain for you? I’d run through athunderstorm. Lightning bolts and all.” She shakes her head, her movements erratic and angered. “No one likes you first?” she repeats, and then in the middle of Jefferson’s, she screams, “Ilike you!”
Savannah stares into Tori’s flaming expression. I sink back against the booth, my lips parted in surprise as my mind tries to process such a declaration, and the three of us are all in too much shock to bring ourselves to say a single word. Even Tori seems taken aback, and her outburst hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“Tori!” Brian snaps, striding toward our booth. He grasps Tori’s arm, breaking her eye contact with Savannah, and whisks her away. She doesn’t put up a fight. Her footsteps are lethargic as he guides her across the quiet restaurant and into the kitchen, her head bowed.
Savannah redirects her gaping stare to me, lips moving as she tries to find the right words. Finally, she whispers, “Tori isgay?”
“Maybe,” I say, gazing at the kitchen door as it swings on its hinges, wondering if Tori will ever return. A sense of nonplussed calmness filters through me, like a jigsaw piece has just clicked into place. It all makes so much sense.
“But we’ve been friends for life!” Savannah exclaims, shaking her head in disbelief. “How didn’t I know?”
“Maybe she didn’t even know herself.”
Perhaps Tori has still been figuring things out. Either way, I don’t think yelling in the middle of her workplace is how she imagined coming out to us, and I wish I could burst through those kitchen doors and hug her tight. Savannah, however, is still shell-shocked.
“Why did she have to tell me that? This is going to ruin everything!” she whines, burying her head in her hands. “I like Teddy. I likeguys, Mila.”
“I know you like guys.” I have to laugh to lighten the mood as I reach over the table to pull Savannah’s hands away from her face, meeting her distraught eyes. “But Tori likes girls. Maybe guys too. Or maybe just people. But her liking you? That doesn’t change your friendship. I think it’s just something she had to say.”
“But whysay it? She knows I can’t like her back!”
“Because it’s her truth,” I answer, squeezing Savannah’s hands between mine, “and if she denied it any longer, it would just make her miserable. I think that’s why she’s been so snappy lately, you know?”
“Oh,” Savannah says in realization. “So thisis why she doesn’t like Teddy.”
