I smirk, curiosity at how her relationship with her brother has changed since he moved back to town right when I was leaving.
“Well, Eli has a point.”
“Yeah, so I’ve been realizin’,” she mutters.
My brows draw in, wondering what she means, but not wanting to get into a drawn-out conversation right now. My eyes flick to the clock on the wall and back down, my chest squeezing when I realize it’s a little past seven and I’m still here instead of heading home to wait for Blakely.
Standing up, I walk over to the Cobra, leaning on the driver’s side door. “How’d you even know where to find me?”
“I’m nothin’ if not resourceful.” She nods. “Honestly, I went by your place first, but no one was there, and then we looked up Donahue Motors and came here. There was a nice lady leavin’ when I got here and she let me right in... told me where I could find you.”
My heart stutters, my stomach kissing my chest before sinking back down. “We?”
She sucks her lip into her mouth again, gnawing on the flesh, her fingers brushing her long hair behind her ears. “Yeah, uhh, Chase came with me.”
My nostrils flare, the resentment rising through me like a flash flood. “And where is he?” I glance around like he’s waiting, lurking in the shadows, ready to pop up at any moment.
“He ain’t here.” She lifts a shoulder. “But you know how he gets, he wouldn’t let me come alone, and I had already bought the ticket. It’s been almost three months since we talked, Teeth, I needed to make sure you were okay.”
“A trip to my mom’s house would have been a lot less expensive,” I snap, suddenly over this conversation.
She brought Chase. As soon as she forgave him, she just expected the world to agree. But I don’t forgive him. Not for what he did to her, and not for what he did to me.
“Your mama never tells me anything you don’t want her to, and you know it.” She grins. “Listen, don’t be mad, okay? I wanted to surprise you, thought it would be fun to see where your new life is. And Chase, he... well, you know how he is. But he knows you won’t wanna see him. He’s just here for me.”
I snort. “Better late than never, I guess.”
Her eyes narrow. “My problems with Chase are my own. I’m here foryou.”
Old resentment billows and unfurls like smoke, tarring up my lungs and making me choke. “And I didn’taskfor you to be.”
Her eyes grow glassy, and like muscle memory my heart pangs, wanting to wipe away her tears. Only now, the feeling she inspires in me isn’t the love I thought it once was. It just feels like friendship.
Once again, my stomach clenches thinking about how Blakely and I left things. About how I snapped and let my emotions get the best of me. Let my insecurity over no one knowing about us bleed into my reaction to something that, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t even a big deal.
I need to talk to her.
Snapping the hairband on my wrist, I walk toward my toolbox. “This is just...” I sigh. “I wish you would have let me know first.”
“Oh, because if I had called, you would have answered?” she retorts, following behind me. “Teeth, you’re not even answerin’ Becca’s phone calls.”
I shrug my shoulders. “That’s because she’s annoying.”
A giggle bursts out of Lee’s mouth and it makes a smile jump onto my face.
“Look, sweetheart, I’m happy to see you, I really am. But I can’t do anything tonight, I have plans.” I hesitate, wondering if I should tell her about Blakely. Now that she’s here, desperation tugs at my insides, wanting to tell her. Wanting her to know so that I can gain some outside perspective. So that she knows that I finally get it. Iknowwhat the ‘can’t eat, can’t breathe, can’t sleep’ kind of love feels like, because I found it in this amazing woman.
Still, something holds me back from speaking up. “How long are you here for?”
“Just through tomorrow.” She grins. “I know it’s not good timin’ with it bein’ Monday and all, but we need to be home on the weekend for our meetin’s.”
My eyebrows draw in. “Meetings?”
She nods. “Yeah, every Sunday, Chase runs a group for families of addiction. I’ve been goin’.” She beams and a warm content feeling swims through my veins.
She’s really working on herself, and even if Chase is part of the reason, I can’t be mad at that.
All I ever wanted was for Lee to be happy.