Page 171 of A Dead Girl's Guide to Living
“I’m not lying!” The words tore out of me, strangled and desperate, as I caught one look at Liv’s stricken face. I glanced helplessly at Dove.
Jedd was on a roll, anger radiating off him in waves. “So you have Liv’s heart and hang out with her ghost. Cool. Great story. Now get the fuck out of my house.”
“Hey, wait a minute,” Dove growled, rising to her feet as Jedd did. The tone in her voice shocked even me—I had never heard her so fierce. “We aren’t lying. We drove across the goddamn country because Liv asked us to. She has unfinished business, and we’re helping her finish it.”
“Unfinished business?” Jedd barked a humorless laugh. “Get out or I’m calling the police.”
“Ask him about Mr. Dimples,” Liv said suddenly, panic in her eyes. “Only I know about Mr. Dimples. Ask him.”
Jedd gripped my arm—too roughly—and yanked me to my feet. Dove shoved at him.
“Get your fucking hands off her!” Dove snarled.
“Mr. Dimples!” I shouted, my voice breaking. Jedd halted, releasing my arm almost instantly, as if the words had burned him. “Mr. Dimples,” I repeated, my voice shaking. “Liv wants to know… Liv wants to know if you still have Mr. Dimples.”
“Under his pillow,” Liv whispered, as if Jedd could hear her.
“Under your pillow,” I repeated.
“How…” Jedd’s voice cracked as he spoke. “How do you know about… only Liv knew about him. She—she found him one night when we were… she gave me so much shit. But she never told anyone. So how do you know…”
“Tell him that Wonderwall still sucks and is overrated,” Liv whispered, her hands at her throat.
“Well,that’sjust bullshit,” Dove scoffed, and I nudged her quickly as Jedd looked between her and the empty spot where she had been directing her words.
“What the fuck—what is that—”
I jumped in quickly.
“Liv said Wonderwall still sucks and is overrated,” I blurted, hoping to God it clicked with something in his mind.
Jedd looked at me in alarm before disbelief filled his eyes again. He shook his head. “No way. Okay, you guys did your research. Well done. You got some shit right.”
“Fuck it,” I groaned, reaching behind my head. Before Dove could ask what I was doing, I tugged on the strap holding my halter top, and it fell away. Dove’s eyes widened in surprise, and Liv let out a startled yelp as the fabric slid down. I was wearing a cream-colored strapless bra, the top pooling at my waist.
I glanced down at my scar, comparing it to the length of the woman’s at the carousel, before looking up at Jedd. His eyes had zeroed in on my chest in the least perverted way possible, his mouth hanging open slightly.
“I had open-heart surgery a year ago,” I told him, squaring my shoulders and fighting off the heat in my cheeks. “Well, it’s been a few weeks past the anniversary now, but I’m a year post-transplant with a donor heart I received. I had been in heart failure. This heart was myHail Mary. I was dying—and then I wasn’t. Because someone else died instead.”
Tears filled my eyes as I looked to Liv, who stared at me with so much emotion I nearly broke apart.
“I’m always going to be so sorry that you died, Liv,” I whispered. “I’m sorry that I took your heart and that you aren’t here anymore. I know it’s not my fault. You would have died anyway, and someone else would have gotten your heart—I get the logistics. But I am sorry. I’m so sorry that you’re gone, and that this part is over for you. Because I think you’re amazing. And I think you would have been living an amazing life, and would have continued to do so.”
Dove’s hand slid into mine beside me, and she sniffed, wiping at her eyes.
“I’m going to keep living life for you,” I choked, giving a firm nod. “I promise. No more wallowing. No more timekeeping. I won’t squander it.”
Liv’s eyes fluttered, as if she were desperately trying to cry, but no tears came. Her face crumpled, and she walked toward me, flinging her arms around my neck. I wrapped my arms around her, breathing in deeply as the tears fell, her pink hair absorbing them.
“Uh,” Jedd’s voice croaked. “Why the fuck is she hugging the air?”
“She’s hugging Liv,” Dove snapped, exasperation in her voice. “Fucking hell, Jedd. Liv, I thought you said he was cool?”
“He is cool!” Liv snapped, letting me go and giving me a small smile as she flicked my nose. “He’s just scared and grieving. Tell him about the time he jerked off into his dad’s porn magazines, got the pages stuck together, and blamed his brother.”
“Ew.” I laughed, sniffing back the remaining tears and wiping my eyes.
Dove looked at Jedd and made a face. “Men.”
