Page 23 of The Heart You've Borrowed

“And you’re always welcome to stay here too if you need,” Juliet says from across the counter.

“Thanks, that means a lot to me.” I smile at her.

“Of course. Our home is always open for you guys.” Jackson adds.

“I appreciate it, man.” Lio sighs.

“Of course, so how about we set the table and dig in?” Jackson smiles.

“Sounds good to me, I’m starving.” Lio laughs.

After we set the table to get the kids in their highchairs we all sit down to eat. I forgot what this was like. It’s been so long since I’ve had a home-cooked meal with good company. I smile to myself as I watch everyone. This is what I’ve always wanted, to be surrounded by people who care about me and want me to be around.

With Jett, I never knew if I was allowed to talk, during dinners at our apartment he didn’t like it when I wanted to talk. He wanted us to sit in silence so he could unwind from his day and if I did talk it would just start another fight. So I got used to being silent at all times.

It makes me sad when I look back on the last few years, and how I let myself live like that. At the moment it didn’t seem as bad but now that I look back on everything I know that I didn’t deserve any of that. I know that it wasn’t my fault. I know that none of it was my fault and that Jett is just an evil excuse of a man.

The rest of the night goes on without any problems. We laugh and enjoy a bottle of wine after the kids go to bed. Around midnight we say goodnight and Lio and I go up to the guest room that they put my bags into earlier.

“I can sleep on the couch,” Lio says standing in the doorway.

“We can share a bed, Lio.” I laughed.

“I just don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.” He runs his hand through his hair.

“I want you to stay here with me.” I roll my eyes.

“As you wish.” He smiles before taking his hoodie off and setting it on the dresser. I slip my sweater off and pull down my jeans. Leaving me in just a tank top and my underwear. We silently get into bed and he turns the bedside lamp off.

“Good night.” He whispers.

“Good night,” I whisper back.

We lay beside each other, not talking, not touching, just laying together. I don’t mind it though. Before I would always pretend I was asleep when Jett would come to bed, my heart would be pounding and I would try to be as still as possible so he would just go to sleep. But this is nice. Being able to lay here and feel safe.

“Are you awake?” I hear Lio whisper a few minutes later.

“Yeah.” I roll over to face him.

“Are you okay?” He keeps staring up at the ceiling, his hands behind his head.

“I don’t know,” I answer honestly.

“I hate that you have to go through this.” He sighs.

“Me too.” I suck in a breath.

“If you could do anything right now what would it be?” He asks.

“What?” I laughed.

“I’m serious, if you could do anything right now, what would it be?” He turns to face me, smiling.

“I don’t know.” I bit my bottom lip.

“Come on, literally anything.” He shook his head.

“Okay, uh. Well, I wouldn’t mind sitting on a beach in Greece with a drink in my hand and a good book.” I laughed.

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