Page 76 of Unraveled

I clinked mine to his. “Yeah, well.” I tipped back the amber liquid, letting it burn my throat.

“What do you mean? She’s not still bothering you, is she?”

Although I was willing to accept his apology and leave things in the past, I found myself reserved about sharing the present. I didn’t care to reveal I was renovating Carly’s parents’ house. “No. She’s definitely in the past.”

I should’ve gone home, but by the end of the night with Brandon, there was only one place I wanted to be. With Layla.

I called her from the road. It was almost ten o’clock in the evening, so I hoped I wasn’t waking her. Since she was one week post-chemo, I knew she wasn’t at her best. But she picked up on the first ring.

“Hello.”

“Hi, you. How you feeling?”

“Okay. How was it with Brandon?”

“Good, but I missed you tonight. Okay if I come by?”

“Of course. I’ll see you soon.”

I let myself in when I arrived, smiling at her sitting on the couch. She hadn’t bothered putting on makeup or anything fancier than her comfortable sweats. But it also appeared as if she’d lost a few pounds. I would need to work—subtly—on getting her to eat more calories.

“Hi, beautiful.”

“Hi, handsome. So, it went well?”

I took a seat next to her on the sofa and settled her legs over my lap. I’d told her last night I’d contacted Brandon. She’d clearly been pleased. “It did go well. I gave him a long-overdue acceptance of his apology, and he was gracious enough to accept mine about Saturday night.”

“How did it feel?”

“Like a weight was lifted. You were right. The thing that hurt the most out of that whole debacle was losing his friendship.”

“I’m really glad you reached out to him.”

“It’s thanks to you, really.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. Life is too short to hold grudges. And I got to thinking. All roads, even the shitty ones, got me here to you. Nothing else matters. Especially not anything surrounding a college ex-girlfriend who I no longer care about. I may not have wanted to drive this particular road, but in the end, I’m grateful it directed me to you.”

She wiped the tears from her face.

“Whoa, I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“I know. But you can’t say those sweet words a week post-chemo and expect I won’t get emotional.”

“Fair enough. How you feeling?”

“Stronger each day. My hair is hanging in there, which is giving me hope I won’t lose it.”

“That’s good.” From what I’d read, losing hair was a common side effect of chemo. But since she wasn’t experiencing every single side effect, perhaps she’d be lucky. “What did you eat tonight?”

“Crackers and some yogurt.”

It wasn’t enough, yet I knew her teeth were sensitive. “How about for dinner tomorrow I go pick up the clam chowder you love so much?”

She sighed with contentment as I massaged her feet. “Sounds good. Hey, is Carly still showing up at the jobsite all the time? Bringing your guys breakfast and lunch?”

I quirked my head to the side, trying to figure out where she was going with this. “Yeah. She is.” Even though I ignored her, she always found reasons to be there. Since I was over halfway through with the job, though, I had little choice but to put up with it.