Broken Course (17 page)

"I’ll go with you." I begin to stand, but she stops me.

"I just need a few minutes alone. Please. I won’t go far." She offers me a fake smile.

I reach out and squeeze her hand. "Yeah. Of course."

"Girl time," Emma announces, standing from her chair.

"No.
Alone
," Sarah repeats and walks away only to pause just a few steps from our table. She backs up and quickly grabs the box, taking it with her.

"See! That went well," Emma tells Caleb, who is shaking his head at her.

"She’s outside crying, Emmy."

"She took it with her though. She’ll be okay. I promise."

I clear my throat. "Can one of you enlighten me on what the hell just happened?" I growl, becoming increasingly frustrated by being left in the dark. I have a pretty good idea what this is about, although the necklace confuses me.

"She told you about the wreck, right?" Emma asks.

"No," I answer, and it’s not a lie. I know about it, but Sarah has never uttered a single word.

"Not at all?"

"Nope."

"Oh my God. What the hell have y’all been doing for the last month? Clearly, it’s not talking."

"Excuse me?" I reply, surprised by her sudden frustration.

"Okay, calm down. This is not his fault," Caleb tells Emma before turning his attention back to me. "Look, Leo. I’ll be honest with you here. Sarah has a shit past. That necklace belonged to her best friend, Manda, who passed away about seven years. That’s all I’m giving you, but I highly suggest you start asking her some questions."

"What kind of questions exactly?" I play dumb because there is something about his words that pisses me off.

"The kind that enables you to decide if you can overlook her past…or
not
."

What the fuck is happening right now?
I just blink at him, not sure I can honestly trust my own ears.

Is her own family actually warning me off her? I begin to choose my words very carefully while trying to keep my anger at bay.
Her past
. This is her family. God damn. He might not have said anything wrong
yet
. But I sure as hell don’t want to give Caleb a chance to get there. Luckily, Emma chimes in before I have a chance to act on my impulse to become a real dick.

"She likes you. A lot. Probably more than you even know. I know y’all haven’t been seeing each other long, but she’s smitten." She laughs. "I love it! She’s always so happy, and I’ve really missed that. I’ve missed seeing her just genuinely happy in life as a whole." Tears well in her eyes. "You just have to understand. You would be lucky to have her. Sarah is an amazing person. But it terrifies me that she isn’t talking to you. I’m only telling you this because, if you can’t handle all that is Sarah Kate Erickson, I need you to leave…like, yesterday." Emma implores.

"I’m not going anywhere," I respond firmly

"It’s easy to say that now. But you don’t have enough information to make that decision. I love my sister, but—"

"You are not listening," I start as my temper begins to slip. Sarah’s outside bawling her eyes out and I’m stuck inside listening to them spew warnings. "I’m not going
anywhere.
"

"Then ask her about the necklace. Don’t let her brush it off as nothing. Everyone in Sarah’s life has known her for years. I think someone finally needs to hear her side of the story without the clouds of the past fracturing her truths. Someone needs to finally know that woman standing in the parking lot right now."

"See, right there. That’s a big part of the problem I’m having right now. That woman standing in the parking lot shouldn’t be out there at all. She should be sitting in here, laughing and eating chocolate cake. I think your heart is in the right place, but this shit is seriously fucked up. It’s her birthday. Why would you even give her that necklace tonight?"

"What? Are you kidding me?" Emma asks in awe.

"Hell no, I’m not kidding," I snap.

"All right. That’s enough. You need to calm the hell down and watch how you talk to my wife."

"Right. Of course. Well, I’m going to extend you the same courtesy. Watch how you talk about
my woman
. It doesn’t sit well with me that we are even having this conversation tonight. You should have talked to Sarah about what she feels comfortable telling me. I shouldn’t be privy to anything about her until
she’s
ready to tell me. Now I’m suspicious. Where does that leave the two of us? What’s if she’s not ready to talk yet, but I can’t stop asking questions?"

Hypocrite. Fucking. Hypocrite. But Christ, this is too much.

I didn’t seek out information about Sarah. And I feel guilty as shit that I know about her past—but not guilty enough to tell her.

"Just so you know, I’m smitten with her too. I’m not blind. I know she’s keeping some things to herself, and I appreciate you looking out for her, but I think it’s up to her when she wants to open up."

"She won’t ever tell you! She has you so high up on a pedestal, Mr. Perfect."

"I’m not perfect." I quickly correct.

"Maybe not, but she sees you that way. You don’t understand. You weren’t here when things went down."

"No, but I’m here now." I push to my feet and dig some money from my wallet. "Dinner’s on me. I’m sorry if I’ve come off as an asshole tonight, but I’m not going to just sit around while Sarah gets bashed."

"Who the fuck was bashing her?" Emma defensively jumps to her feet and shakes off Caleb’s arm as he tries to restrain her. She’s not yelling, but her reaction is definitely drawing attention.

"No one as long as I have anything to say about it," I answer matter-of-factly.

"I all but kicked her out the door for y’all’s first date." Emma steps around the table with Caleb sliding out behind her. "She’s my sister and she hasn’t exactly had the easiest road the last few years. And when she showed even the tiniest bit of interest in you, I pounced. I fully expected her to hate you—come home with some terrible story about what a cocky douche you were… And after this little outburst, I can’t say I was wrong in that assumption. However, Sarah is enamored by you. And if you left because of her past, I’m not sure how that would affect her. Jesus, all I’m saying is if you break up with her, do it because she’s a bore or lazy in bed—not because of her past. If you care about her at all, you will recognize that I’m only looking out for her."

"I don’t need you to remind me that none of us are perfect. Not Sarah. Not you. And certainly not
me.
Emma, I do recognize that you’re trying to help. But what you aren’t taking into account is that I’m doing the same damn thing. I just have a very different opinion on what help looks like. She’s your sister, but I care about her too."

"That’s really good to hear." She crosses her arms over her chest.

"I’m going to get Sarah," I announce over my shoulder as I walk away, dismissing any further conversation.

When I push open the door, I suck in deep, filling my lungs with the cool, crisp air I hope will calm me down. I glance around, searching for Sarah, but don’t see her anywhere. Once I walk to the side closest to the parking lot, I find her sitting on a bench. She’s leaning over and her hair is curtaining her face. Damn it, I hate seeing her this upset. Why the fuck did they give her that necklace tonight? It ruined everything.

"Sarah," I say quietly so as not to scare her.

Her head snaps up, and I swear, for a minute, every planet orbits around her. I have never in my life seen a smile so breathtakingly genuine. It doesn’t show just on her gorgeous mouth; it radiates through her entire body. Damn it if Emma wasn’t right. She’s so fucking happy. I fully expected her to be a wreck, but she’s anything but right now.

"Hey." She slides over an inch and pats the bench next to her.

"You’re beautiful," I tell her, knowing it’s not nearly enough.

"Yeah, I’m sure I look amazing right now. Is my eye makeup running?" She sweeps a thumb under her eyes, holding the open box tight in her other hand.

"Nah, you’re good." I drape my arm around her shoulders and pull her into my side.

She cuddles in close and lets out a content hum. "I think this is the best birthday I’ve ever had."

"Really?"

"You have no idea how much this means to me." She uses a finger to toy with the heart charm.

"You want to tell me about it?" I look down questioningly.

"Yeah. I think I do." She smiles then kisses me softly on the lips. "You want to take a stroll with me?"

"Sure. Where we going?"

"Memory lane." She stands up, dragging me up with her. "Will you put this on me?" She lifts the necklace from the box and very carefully hands it to me.

I fasten it around her neck, finishing with a wet kiss on her shoulder.

"Let’s go back in. I need to ask Caleb something."

"I may have screwed up and showed my ass," I tell her awkwardly.

"What?"

"I got pissed that they gave you that tonight. I thought it upset you on your birthday." I decide to leave out the rest of the argument. "It appears this is one of those very rare occasions in which I’m wrong."

"Very rare, huh?" She begins laughing—and not because she heard something funny. She’s straight up laughing
at
me.

"Extremely."

"Aw, did you get upset because someone made me cry?" she questions in a mocking baby voice.

"I’m serious, Sarah. I was pissed."

She wraps her arms around my waist and starts laughing again. "Oh God. What did you say?"

"I don’t even remember exactly. But I’m pretty sure I called you my woman and pissed on someone’s leg."

"Damn. I would have loved to see you go head-to-head with Caleb. I’m actually really sorry I missed that." She folds over in hysterics.

"Sarah, stop," I say seriously then burst out laughing right alongside her. "Caleb didn’t even have a chance to say anything. Emma had it all covered."

"Oh, well, she probably deserved it then. She’s always trying to get up in my shit. I think she forgets that she’s my baby sister sometimes."

"She called me a cocky douche." I feign injury and Sarah laughs even louder.

"Damn it. Why do I always miss the good stuff?"

"I’m glad you find this entertaining."

"I absolutely do. Now, come on, tough guy. Time for round two."

I let out a groan as she pulls me toward the restaurant door.

"THANK YOU so much." I throw my arms around Caleb’s neck the second we get back to the table. I can tell that he doesn’t know how to react, but he finally gives me an awkward hug.

"You’re welcome. I’m really sorry I didn’t give it to you sooner."

"No, really, today was the perfect time." I look down to see Emma’s prideful grin. I’m one hundred percent positive that giving me this tonight was not Caleb’s idea. I reach up, clench the necklace in my palm, and mouth, "Thank you," to Emma.

She replies with a wink.

"I think I may have overreacted," Leo says, extending a hand to Caleb.

He smirks and shakes his hand. "I’ve done worse."

Leo turns to Emma, but before he can even open his mouth, she smacks him on the arm.

"You are really lucky that I like overprotective assholes."

Leo nods and Emma and I both bust out laughing.

"Hey, any chance we can swing by tonight and get that box?" I ask as we start gathering our stuff to leave.

Emma’s eyes go wide and flash to Leo. "Yes!" she exclaims loudly.

I give her a suspicious look, but she shrugs and rushes out of the restaurant.