I nod, swallowing the lump in my throat as I wipe up the spilt water with a napkin. “That was a long time coming.”
“It’s still hard, though. Trust me. I know. But it’ll get easier. You’ll be able to find yourself now, become your own person, set your own standards that don’t revolve around them, the church, or grandma and grandpa. And one day, you’ll look back at this and know you made the right choice.” She offers me a comforting smile then flags down the waitress to order some tea to calm me down.
I hope she’s right. I hope, when I look back at this moment in my life, I can see myself as more than the afraid, lost girl I feel like right now.
“What are you going to do?” she asks after the waitress leaves to put in our orders. “Do you have somewhere to live? Because I’m getting a place in Fair Hollow. I actually just got a teaching job there. If you need to, you can come stay with me.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I want to finish school here. I have a friend I was planning on moving in with, anyway. That wasn’t supposed to happen for another week, but I’m sure she won’t care if it’s sooner.” I feel so tired, like I’m about to crash. “I want to see you again, though. You’re the only family I have left.”
“I’ll visit every weekend, and you can come visit me,” she says. “I’m not going anywhere, Luna. I’m not going to let you go through this alone.”
Alone.
No, I’m not alone at all. I have a lot of people who care about me.
Two hours later, my sister drops me off at Wynter’s house. I hate parting ways with her already, but she says she needs to get back to Fair Hollow because she has a flight to catch early in the morning. But saying good-bye is easier after she promises to drive out next weekend to see me.
“And I want to hear more about these friends of yours,” she says as she parks the car in front of Wynter’s house. “And Grey. You seem to really like him.”
“I do. He’s really easy to talk to.” I unclip my seatbelt. “He actually knows more about me than most people.”
“I’m glad you have people in your life,” she says. “I always worried that you’d be stuck alone in that house with Mom and Dad, and they’d wear you down.”
“It felt like they were sometimes,” I admit. “My friends were always my light in the dark tunnel if that makes any sense.”
“It makes perfect sense.” She leans over the console to hug me good-bye.
Then I get out of the car and head for the pool house around back. As I hike up the driveway, I message Grey to tell him where I am. He doesn’t respond, probably because he’s too busy working. Still, I feel this overpowering need to talk to him and tell him everything, and I hope I get to see him soon so I can.
When Wynter throws the door open, she greets me with a giant hug.
“I’m so sorry,” she says, squeezing the air out of me. “I can’t believe they lied to you about that. I mean, who does that?”
“Psychotic control freaks,” I say through a yawn.
She pulls away, motioning for me to get my ass inside. “Man, you must be taking this hard if you’re using words like psychotic and freaks.”
I shrug and flop down on the bed. “I’ve given up on trying to hide what my parents are. They may want to, but after today, I think half the town is going to change their opinion on how put-together the Harveys are.”
She lies down on the bed beside me. “It was that bad, huh?”
I tuck a pillow under my head. “She yelled in front of everyone. Seeing me there with my sister . . . I think it made her snap.”
“That’s her own damn fault.”
“I know.”
She gets up to turn the fan on then returns to the bed. “I’m glad you’re here, though. We’ll have fun living together.”
“Are you sure your parents don’t care that I live here for a while?”
“I’m positive. Now stop worrying and take a nap while I go start packing up my clothes and stuff,” she says, pushing up onto her elbows. “You look so exhausted, Lu.”
“I am exhausted.” It’s been an exhausting day, an exhausting year, an exhausting life. The crazy part is that it feels like I’m just getting started, like this is the actual starting point to my life.
And it’s time for me to start living it how I want to.
Starting with taking a nap.
When I wake up again, the room is dark, and a solid chest is pressed up against my back. At first, I think it’s Wynter, but how awkward would that be if my best friend was spooning me? Then I catch the faintest scent of cologne and soap, and a smile takes over my face as I roll over and nuzzle closer to Grey.
“You’re awake,” he murmurs, his lips moving against my forehead.
“Yeah.” I rest my head against the crook of his neck. “How’d you get in here?”
“Wynter let me in,” he murmurs, “after she made me promise I wouldn’t wake you up by doing anything sexual.”
Thank God it’s dark because my cheeks flame hot. “She has no filter.”
“It’s fine,” he says, stroking his finger up and down my arm. “It gave me a little self-control, anyway. If she’d never said it, who knows what I would’ve done when I walked in and saw you lying in bed with your shirt up just enough to give me an eyeful.”
I bite down on my lip. “I wasn’t flashing you when I was asleep,” I argue.
“You totally were,” he teases. “Nice bra, by the way.”
“Grey, that’s not funny.” I pinch his side when he laughs. “Did I really flash you?”
“No, I was just teasing you.” His laughter settles down. “You actually looked pretty peaceful when I walked. And completely out of it.”
“I haven’t been sleeping very well,” I admit it. “I’ve been too stressed out that my parents would find out that I was going to move out before I actually got out, and that . . . Well, I’m glad I didn’t have to find out what would’ve happened if they caught on to my plan. After seeing my mom lose it today, and right there in the middle of a restaurant, I can only imagine what would’ve happened if we’d been behind closed doors.”
“They’ll never be able to hurt you again.” He slips his arms around to my back and urges me closer. “You’re safe now.”
“I know . . . It’s just a lot to take in.” I can hear his heart beating steadily in his chest as silence sets in.
The longer it remains quiet, the closer I get to dozing off again. Grey seems to have the same idea because, within minutes, his breathing turns soft.
“Are you spending the night?” I ask softly.
“If that’s okay with you. Wynter told me I could,” he murmurs. “But if you’re not comfortable with that, then I can go.”
“No, stay,” I say with zero hesitation.
“I’m glad you said that,” he whispers, kissing my lips. “Promise you’ll tell me everything that happened in the morning. I want to hear it, but I want you to get some sleep.”
“I promise I’ll tell you everything.” I roll over and pull his arm over my side, aligning my back to his chest again.
He chuckles, his breath dusting the back of my head. “You like the spooning thing, huh?”
I nod my head up and down, realizing how comfortable I am, how much I like this. “I really do.”
The truth is, I don’t know much about what I like. I know I love my friends. That one has been a given forever. I like music a lot, and one day I might want to do something with that, but I’m still not sure what. I like to dress fashionable without showing too much skin. I like my hair long. And I definitely like Grey. I like spooning with him, talking with him, fighting over a game with him.
That might sound like a lot, but really, it feels like I have so much more to discover about myself. Am I scared? Heck, yes. I’m scared out of my damn mind. I never thought I’d be on my own before I got out of high school.
For the first time in my life it feels like I can breathe, like the walls aren’t caving in on me, and all I’m doing is lying in bed with my boyfriend. There’s no helpless feeling stirring inside me, no compulsion to steal and take control. Will things be that way forever? I have no idea what the future holds for me, but one thing’s for sure.