Page 159 of Need You Now

The next morning, Lacey stands listlessly in her bedroom, her luggage arranged on the bed. Her eyes sweep the room. The unmade bed. The glass of wine, or three, she had last night to drown her sorrows. The phone she didn’t use to call and apologize to Seth. It takes all she has to resist burying her nose in the sheets. The sheets where she and Seth have been sleeping for the last week.

Despair swirls around her and fresh tears jump into her eyes. She sniffles, wishing she was already back in LA. Wishing she could forget. But she knows it will never be that easy, because she left her apartment with remnants of Seth too.

With a sigh, she grabs up a pair of moto leggings and tosses them into the suitcase.

A light rap on the door has her turning.

Sal stands in the doorway, concern on her face. “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine.” Lacey sinks to the edge of the bed, reaching out to ruffle Winston, who’s hopped next to her. He does three quick turns and settles beside her. At the warmth of his snout on her thigh, tears hit her eyes again. He’s sandy and scruffy just like Seth.

“Lace ...” Sal’s green eyes are full of sympathy. “You’re not fine.”

“Fine.” Her lower lip pushes out. Her emotions beg to be released, to let someone in, let someone help. “I’m not fine. I’m awful.”

Sal sits beside her and puts an arm around her. “I know you are.” Lacey closes her eyes and lets her sister hug her.

“I just want to get back to LA.”

“Then why are you still staring at your suitcase?” Sal asks gently. “If you’re leaving?”

Lacey swallows, trying to hold herself together. To tell her sister a lie. But she can’t. She doesn’t want to leave. All she wants to do is take back last night.

“Ugh, I hate that you know me so well,” Lacey grouses.

Sal laughs. Then her face clears out. Genuine curiosity in her expression. Her full lips a half smile. “Why did you agree to go? You love Seth.”

“Because I’m stupid.” Lacey scrubs at her face, her makeup ruined. “I didn’t want to say goodbye. We’re so different and I thought ... it wouldn’t work out. He’d leave. Somewhere along the way I’d lose him.”

Lacey drops her face to cry into Winston’s fur. He’s soft, and he licks away her salty tears, which only makes her sob harder.

Sal rubs calming circles across her back. “Oh, Lace.”

Lacey wipes her eyes and raises her face. “I don’t know how you do it, Sal. You and Luke.” She stares at her sister, needing an answer. Some sort of truth to get her through this. “You came so close to losing each other so many times. How does that not scare the hell out of you? How do you do it? Why?”

Sal smiles, her entire face aglow at the mention of Luke. She looks at Lacey. “It does scare me. All the time. But I’ve never regretted any of it because I’d never do this life with anyone else. Luke’s it.”

Her chest squeezing tight, Lacey looks to the window, to the morning. Snow falls, soft and delicate. She thinks about her sister’s words. Like sunlight chasing away a shadow. Hope sneaking in through the cracks in her heart. Love goes through it, but the risk is worth it. For the right person, and that person is Seth.

Everything she didn’t know she needed, she found in Seth. He changed her for the better. Showed her a kindness, a strength she never thought possible. Never made her feel hard to love. Made her laugh in a way no one ever could. Constantly backing her up and supporting her when she asked—and when she didn’t. She never had to sacrifice any part of herself to be with him. Instead, she showed him all the pieces of her—ugly, sad, bad—and he took it on. Asked for more. Loved her.

Memories of the last month together spark in her mind. Caring for her when she needed him in LA. The two of them slow-dancing at the Silver Dollar. At the cabin, that strange, beautiful calm right before he told her he loved her. The beautiful song he wrote her.

Suddenly her fears, her job, their fight, all the rest of it, doesn’t matter.

What matters is Seth.

The only risk. The best risk.

Lacey inhales a deep breath and sits up straight, resolute. Determined. “I’m going to call him.”

It’s not too late. She’s in control. This is her life, and while she isn’t sure about what comes next, what she knows is that she’s going to give it her all with Seth.

If she still can.

Sal nods, her lips curving up. “Good.”

But then Lacey groans, remembering last night. She covers her face with both her hands, peering through slitted fingers at Sal. “Oh my God, I can’t. I was such a bitch to him.”

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