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“Eh.” Hannah waves a hand. “If you give a crap about everyone’s opinion of you, you’ll never figure out who you really are.”
I take her by the hand and lead her back up the stairs to the apartment, thinking of all the ways I’m going to show her just how perfect she is for me.
Thirty-Nine
HANNAH
I open my apartment door and let out a squeal.
Marci barrels into the room and throws her arms around me. “I missed you so much! Oh my god, girl, you have got to tell me everything. There is something fishy going on here, and I want to know what it is.”
I’m so nervous, my stomach turns, and I swallow bile.
Marci frowns at me. She’s tan from her honeymoon and practically glowing, but I’ve been feeling down and under the weather all morning. I don’t care, though, because she’s here! She’s finally back. And just in time.
“What’s going on?” she asks. “You said you need to tell me something?”
I shut my door and guide her to my comfy sofa. I’ve already put out the coffee pot, filled to the brim with steaming hot coffee, and two mugs.
“Where’s Belle?” Marci asks.
“Busy babysitting Leo. Those two are fighting like cats and dogs.” I pour Marci a cup of coffee then make one for myself. But the scent is seriously making my nerves and nausea worse, so I set it aside and watch Marci drink hers instead.
“I have to get all the details about that later,” Marci says. “What’s going on with you?”
My palms are clammy. “Don’t worry about me,” I say. “Let’s talk about your honeymoon. Was it everything you dreamed?”
“If you mean did I eat a whole bunch of pasta, make love, drink wine, and see Rome, then have to look after my sick as a dog husband on the way home,” Marci says. “Then yeah.”
I grimace.
“Oh, don’t worry.” Marci raises a hand. “It’s not contagious. I think he just overate.”
“That sounds like Jesse. Let me guess, concessions stand at the airport?”
“Pretty much,” Marci says, with a laugh, and then she sweeps her gaze over me. “What’s with you? You look different.”
And then I break, because I can’t not tell one of my best friends that I’m leaving Heatstroke in literally a couple of days. Or that I’m having a sordid, amazing affair with the man of my dreams. I tell her everything while she listens with wide eyes, coffee mug forgotten in her grasp.
Afterward, she puts down her mug and takes my hands. “Holy crap, that’s sweaty.” She lets go of them again.
“Sorry,” I say. “I was super nervous to tell you.”
“What did you think I would say?” Marci asks. “No, don’t leave. I want you to stay and watch me be happy while you slowly waste away?”
“Gee, thanks.”
“You know what I mean. Han, I will always want what’s best for you. And I know you. You’re always prepared to take on the world. You’ve been ready for this for ages, and you deserve happiness. Which brings us to the next part… Savage? Are you serious?” She pinches my arm.
“Ow!” I rub the sore spot.
“How could you not tell me? We’ve been waiting for this to happen forever.” Marci’s older than me, but she’s got a young soul, and I’m half-convinced she’s also my soul mate. Just like Belle’s my soul mate. And June.
And… Don’t even think about it.
“I didn’t want to overshadow your trip. Can you really say you would’ve been entirely focused on your honeymoon if I’d dropped that little nugget of information? I know you. You would’ve blabbed to Jesse instantly.”
“Guilty as charged,” she says. “But still. I resent that.” She sticks her tongue out of the corner of her mouth. “So? How was it?”
