Page 92 of Pretend You Love Me
I exhale slowly and slump into the chair behind me. I didn’t even realize how much tension I was holding waiting for those results.
James walks toward me and kneels in front of me. He takes my hand. I’m still looking down.
“That’s good news.” He squeezes my hand.
I nod. I can’t find any words right now.
“Are you okay?” I finally look up. His eyes are full of concern.
“No.”
He doesn’t say anything. He just sits with me, holding my hand. I feel tears falling down my face. He moves and grabs a box of tissues. I wipe my eyes and cheeks.
“I should probably go out there,” I say, standing up. He wraps me in a big hug, and then says, “Yeah, they are going to miss us.”
As I’m reaching for the doorknob, he touches my shoulder. I turn to face him. “I won’t give up.”
“I know.”
“I’ll keep searching until we have answers.”
“Thank you.” As annoyed as I was that he couldn’t just let me go this summer, I know I’m lucky he has my back.
There’s a busy scene in the Rose garden. Liv and Zadie are having a joint baby shower. It was their idea because they are due only three weeks apart. James rubs my back, and I take a deep breath as we walk into the crowd. Declan and Eli spot me and wave me over.
“Want some punch?” Eli says.
“Sure.”
“I’ll grab you some.”
Declan wraps his arm around me. “Good to see you.”
Eli returns with a drink, and I take it from him.
“You alright?”
“Not really,” I sigh.
He squeezes his arm tighter around me.
“Have you talked to Kip?”
I shake my head.
“Do you want to talk to Kip?” Eli asks.
I sigh again. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”
“Fair enough. He seemed like a nice guy.” Declan gives me a quick kiss on the top of my head and drops his arm.
“Yeah. I liked him,” Eli adds.
“Well, he betrayed me.”
Eli rolls his eyes. Declan just looks sad.
“I would have done the exact same thing.” Declan is staring right at me. He’s not normally this serious. He’s dead serious right now.
