Crushed (28 page)

“Maybe,”
she
muttered.

Thoughts of him sneaking up behind
her
and putting his arms around
her
last week drift
ed
into
her
head.
She
didn’t mention it to Emma.
She
wasn’t sure what to say because
she
ha
d
no idea what that had been about. But it was easily the most wonderful thing that
had happened to
her
in months.
She
could’ve just stayed there
all morning, all day
.
She had
wanted to. But
she’d seen
Janna
. T
he last thing either
she or Reece
need
ed wa
s for rumors to spread. Not that
they were doing much. B
ut
rumors
like that tend to spiral out of control.

The hot chocolate with a shot of espresso was a drink he used to bring
her
when he knew
she
was having a streak of not sleeping well. Just another little gesture to let
her
know he
was
worried.

“Definitely,” Emma argued
, cutting into
her
mental ramblings
.
“Did you ever talk to him about it?”

She
shook
her
head.

“You should. You’ll see that I’m right,” Emma said confidently.

“Too late now,”
Cleo
said as
she
forced a smile.

“I think you’re wrong about that, too,”
Emma declared
.
“What’s that silly saying? ‘If you love someone set them free. If they come back to
you, they love you, too’?” Emma shook her head. “Something like that, anyway. You
set him free. He didn’t go too far. He ended up right back on your doorstep Friday
night. So yeah, if you look at it that way, maybe it was for the best.”

She
finally turned back to face her, confused.
Friday night,
she
was sure he just wanted answers. As for him asking to stay
the night
, there’s where that sense of obligation came in again.
He didn’t want
her
to be home alone. And while
she
g
o
t that he
th
ought
he want
ed
to be with
her
,
she
want
ed
it to be for the
right
reasons.

Maybe it was. But she also thought there was a possibility that maybe it wa
sn’t.

And unless
she could
find a way to get out of this mess, none of that even matter
ed
.

“It’s not a feeling of obligation that has him tied to
you. It’s love,”
Emma
said
. Cleo had
to wonder if
her
thoughts had been written all over
her
face.

The door opened, saving
her
from having to come up with a response. The two chipper women from earlier popped
into the room.

“How are we doing girls?” one of them asked.

Emma answered and started making small talk, which
Cleo
was more or less oblivious to.

The next
hour was spent
finishing
their
facials
followed by
manicures and pedicures. Because
they
weren’t alone in the room, it kept
her
from having to delve any deeper into the conversation with Emma.

But it didn’t stop
her
from thinking about it.

Or how Reec
e had said he’d
worry. How he would
always
worry.

Chapter 1
6

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” Luci demanded. She had her arms folded across
her chest and she had her Little Miss Grumpy face on.

“Making dinner,”
Cleo
told her
. T
houg
h it should have been obvious. She
didn’
t really feel like cooking but she was starving. Luckily she
had found a jar of alfredo sauce in the cupboard. Chicken alfredo, even if the sauce
was out of a jar, was a perfectly acceptable birthday meal.

Or at least she tried to convince her
self it was.

Luci shook her head. “Put that away.”

“Sweet Pea! I’m
starving
!” Cleo told her as she
pulled a kettle out of the cupboard.

Her face broke into a huge grin.
“But it’s your birthday.
”

Luci
swiped the sauce off the countertop and put it away
herself
.

“What are you doing?”
Cleo
asked.

“Pizza’s on the way,” she told
her.

“Pizza? You ordered pizza?”
Cleo
asked
in surprise
.

Luci
nodded. “Your favorite. Veggie Delight.”

“You hate Veggie Delight,”
she
reminded her.

“I know. But it’s
your
birthday.”
Proud of herself, she continued to grin.

Cleo
pul
led her into a hug. “I love you. You know that, right?
”

“I love you, too,” she said
. She
giggled as she smacked
Cleo
on
the
butt. “Turn around,” she ordered, “seventeen more to go.”

“Birthday spankings? You think you’re going to give me birthday spankings?”
Cleo
demanded
.
She
grabbed her around the middle and started to tickle her. “
I don’t think so
!” she
informed her.
Luci
was shrieking and giggling when the doorbell rang.

“Pizza!” she shouted as she broke away from
Cleo’s grip
. “I’ll get it!”

Cleo grabbed her
purse
. Wh
il
e the thought was super sweet, she
wasn’t
so sure Luci realized you have to actually
pay
for the pizza.
She
had a moment of panic because
she
only had a five in
her
wallet.
She
pulled out the ancient hot chocolate canister from the cupboard, where
she
kept some emergency cash
.
She
was pretty sure Paul had never made hot chocolate in his life
.
She
figured it was a safe place.
She
was grateful to find
she
still had a twenty stashed in there.

“Pizza delivery,”
Cleo
heard someone say.
Her
heart
began to rattle around
in
her
chest because the voice sounded way too familiar.
She
found
her
self wondering when he
’d
got
ten
himself a job
. B
ecause he’d never had to work a day in his life.

“You can put it in the kitchen,”
she
heard Luci order.
Cleo
rushed out to tell her that you’re supposed to just take it at the door.

Reece was standing there, kicking his shoes off. His arms full of…
Cleo
took a minute to
evaluate
the situation. He had a huge vase full of multi-colored tulips in one hand, two pizza
boxes and something that looked suspiciously like a bakery box tucked into his other
arm.

“Friends can celebrate birthdays with friends,” Reece informed
her
before
she
could barrage him with protests. “It’s allowed.”

Cleo
stood for a moment with her mouth open
.
She
couldn’t think of a single thing to say, neither in protest nor appreciation. He
leaned in and landed a kiss on
her
cheek as he handed
her
the flowers.

“Happy birthday,” he said.
He hadn’t said anything to
her in class. She
’d figured he’d either forgotten or just didn’t care.

“Thanks,”
she
managed
.
She
looked at Luci who had another huge full-faced smile.

“Surprise!” she giggled. “Did you think we wouldn’t have a party for you?”

“We?”
Cleo
asked, suddenly feeling panicked. “Is your dad coming?”

The smile fell from Luci’s face and landed in a frown. “No. I reminded him yesterday
.  H
e said he had something important to take care of tonight.”

Right
.
Cleo
nodded. What he meant was that if he stayed home he might be expected to actually
acknowledge
her
birthday. And then he might be expected to provide a present. Or a cake. Or heaven
forbid, simply
say
the words
happy birthday
.
Too much to ask for,
she
supposed. S
o he just stayed away like always.
Cleo
was not disappointed.
She
was relieved.

She
di
dn’t mean to look at Reece but she did. His eyes told her
that he knew e
xactly what just went through her
head.

Then his eyes flickered downward
.
She
could tell
for the first time he realized she
was wearing one of his old t-shirts.
She
had a pair of denim cut
offs on as well but the shirt was
so
big it almost covered her shorts completely. She felt her
s
elf start to blush as he gave her
a small, questioning smile—complete with eyebrow twitch—but he didn’t say anything.

“Cleo is
staaaaarving
,” Luci informed Reece. “She just said so.”

“Well, then, Cleo should eat
,” Reece said as he winked at her
.

Luci was already pulling
plates out of the cupboard and Cleo
realized she
’d taken out three. Reece saw her eying them up. She realized she may
have been frowning because
she wasn’t sure how she
was supposed
to feel about this. Actually, she knew how she
was
supposed
to feel. She
was
supposed
to feel like she
wanted him to go.