Chapter 13

Dana

Luke hadn't shut up about his firm from the time we got into his overly pimped out sports car until they served dessert at the high-end restaurant. I couldn't tell if Olivia was as over him as I knew Kendal and I both were, but either way, I felt like shit for my best friend.

"I'm going to run to the ladies’ room." I stood up and glanced down toward Olivia, trying to give her a look that would urge her to join me.

"Yeah. Me too." She stood up and put her napkin on her plate.

"You girls are weird." Luke shook his head and turned back to Kendal, bringing up another point about his firm.

"Does that guy ever stop talking about himself?" I mumbled as we walked toward the back. I hated to dump on Olivia's man, but there was no way in the deepest parts of hell that she was happy with him. If she was, then she wasn't at all the girl I'd grown up with.

"He's pretty proud of his accomplishments." She pushed the door to the bathroom open. "He keeps trying to get me to come work for him, but I just can't see that being a good idea."

"That's because it's a horrible idea. I think you putting up with him being your boyfriend should get you sainthood." I paused by the mirror and leaned in to check my teeth.

"So you and Kendal seem to be really into each other." Her smile was sweet and yet I could tell she was hurting behind it.

"It's been a roller coaster so far. I met him at the hospital. His sister Amanda was one of my patients. It think I told you that already, right?"

"Some of it, but tell me more. What was wrong with her?"

"She had MS."

"Had?" Olivia's expression tightened.

"She passed away about a week ago." I stepped back from the mirror and turned to face my oldest friend. "He's been having a rough time with it, but I think that's because he lost his mom and dad when he was younger. The poor guy doesn't have anyone but his best friend."

"At least he has that." She ran her hand through her hair and turned toward the mirror. "I didn't mean that the way it came out."

I moved up behind her and wrapped her in a hug before pressing my cheek to the back of her shoulder. She was more of a sister to me than my own sister was. We'd been through so much shit, but her leaving Texas caused a fissure between us. Proximity was power, and I missed her like crazy.

"I miss you too."

"I'm sorry." She let out a shaky breath. "I just keep thinking that I need to get over everything and move on. It's been fucking six years since all that shit with Caden went down. We were just kids for God's sake and yet I look for him everywhere I go."

I moved back and waited for her to turn to face me. "That's because he's living up here in New York now."

"I know." She glanced down and closed her eyes. "I can't shake the fact that he's right around the corner. That if I just keep my eyes open, I'll find him again."

I touched her shoulder gingerly. "Do you really want to open all of that back up?"

She glanced up and shrugged. "I don't know. He's a man now, not a boy. Who knows who he really is or what he's up to? Best to stay with the evil you know than go seeking in the dark for something that could turn out to be bigger and scarier."

I snorted. "I'm not sure Caden would turn out to be anything but a country boy with a great smile in a suit, trying to pretend to be someone he's not."

"Like I'm doing?"

The sadness in her tone tore through me. There had to be something I could do to help.

"So come back home. Move in with me and we'll find you a job in Dallas. There has to be investment firms worth your time down in the south."

"There are, but I can't just up and leave, Dana. My whole life has been built here."

"So rebuild it." I knew she wasn't going to budge until the pain of being stuck in a life that didn't really fit her became overwhelming. How it hadn't for the last six years was a mystery to me, and yet here she was - enduring.

"Maybe in the future." She pulled me into a quick hug. "So you and Kendal just started dating, but things already seem to be going so well."

"He's a professor at UT, remember? I'm a student, so the honest truth behind all of it is that he's not supposed to be dating me. We used this weekend to get away and enjoy each other like we wish we could at home." I shrugged and turned to wash my hands. "We'll get back to Texas on Sunday and things will go back to normal. I think that's why we can't keep our hands off of each other. Back home we really don't have much of a choice. He could lose his job over us being together."

"Oh. Wow." She rubbed the top of my back. "Well, you know that you're welcome to come up here and hang out at my place any weekend you're free."

"I appreciate that." I dried my hands and nodded toward the door. "You ready? They probably thought we fell in."

She chuckled. "I wish. It would be a better ending to the night than having to tell Luke that I'm not sleeping with him."

"No?" I opened the door and walked out with her behind me.

"No. I need a break from him in general. You guys being here is a great excuse. I won't be in your way back at the apartment, but I will be using you as an alibi."

"You need to drop him, Olivia. He's not right for you, and it's obvious, even to you."

"It's good sex." She shrugged. "He's a warm body to hold on to at night and he's got great style and fun friends."

"And I bet you close your eyes and pretend he's Caden, don't you?"

She flinched. "Stop hitting so close to home and mind your own damn business." Her smirk let me know that she wasn't offended, but I knew the truth of the matter. She'd been in love with the same boy our whole lives. Growing up and changing everything about herself wasn't going to change the truth. It would mask it for a time, but it would seem that her mask was growing thin.

Maybe it was time for me to step in and see if I couldn't cause an intervention. A by chance meet up?

I smiled at Kendal before taking my place next to him at the table. He leaned over and pressed his mouth next to my ear as Luke and Olivia fought over who was staying with who later that night.

"What are you up to? I can see something nefarious playing behind your pretty eyes."

"Really?" I moved back and studied his face, falling even more in love with him. I reached out and touched his cheek softly as my heart fluttered in my chest. "I just want Olivia to find happiness."

"Like we have?" His voice was low, soothing, delicious.

"Exactly." I leaned in and pressed my lips to his as the world disappeared.

It was weird to be twenty-four and understand for the first time ever what love not only looked like, but what it felt like too.

The realization made me want to fight even harder to make sure it remained mine.

What would I give up for us to be together? Everything.