Been There Done That (Leffersbee #1) - Hope Ellis Page 0,9

darted to the corner of the restaurant. Our favorite booth.

We’d come here all the time. Zora’s second cousin Daisy owned the place, and we’d often crammed in that same booth with her cousins, Dani, Poe, and Simone. But the best times had been when it was just the two of us. When we were kids, Zora had mischievously kicked my leg under the table. When we were older, she’d run her leg against mine more slowly, her eyes lit with dark, delicious intent. I closed my eyes, thinking back to those halcyon days.

They’d also been difficult times. I’d been more than aware of my mother’s growing problem. Hell, the whole town had an inkling at that point, despite all my efforts to hide it. But I’d had the backing and support of the Leffersbees. And I’d had the love of the most loyal, intelligent, beautiful girl in the world.

And it all changed. Overnight.

Rebecca chewed her lip. “You know what you want, hon?”

I couldn’t quite work up a smile. “The usual?”

She nodded and turned, seeming to understand I needed space. “I think we can handle that.”

“Appreciate it,” I said, noting that the accent I’d worked so hard for so many years to exorcise had reared its head within just a few hours of being home.

I sighed when Rebecca retreated behind the counter, shouting to the unseen person on the other side of the food window.

Zora Leffersbee.

For so many years, I’d wondered about her. Agonized over memories of the soft weight of her hand slipping into mine, those dark eyes fixed on mine, those lips turned up with secret knowledge, a knowing that always made me listen to her, yield to her.

That closeness. Being loved by someone who accepted me with the same wholehearted openness as Zora, even after seeing who I really was? Having captured her love made me feel like a king among men. But I’d lost all that. Twelve years ago.

She’d always been beautiful. I’d had a crush on her in early grade school. My mother chuckled when I came home brimming with tales of Zora’s long braids and the colorful, clicking beads punctuating each end. I’d been lured in by Zora’s kind ways. She was curious, upbeat, and mysteriously watchful. I’d spy her sitting quietly during playtime, studying our classmates as if trying to decipher a puzzle. And then she’d see me and smile.

Her smile had been an unspoken invitation into her little bubble.

Admission to her private, quirky world was an honor. It was especially sweet because she was so very careful and discerning about whom she allowed in. Other people thought Zora was shy. They thought she was quiet. She wasn’t.

And once I’d met the hurricane that was her twin sister, I’d understood Zora better.

God, I miss her.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. Distractedly, I pulled it out, glimpsing the caller ID, and sighed. “Yeah?” I hoped my curt tone would put him off.

“What the fuck, Nick?”

Hearing the frustration straining Eddie’s typical California cool made me sit up. “What?”

“Man, where are you? Still in Green Acres?”

I needed this right now like I needed a stab wound. “Valley. Green Valley. Yeah. What do you want?”

His sigh hissed through the phone’s speaker. “So. It’s true what I’m hearing, then.”

“How would I know what you’re hearing?”

“Your secretary just told me that you’re out of the office indefinitely. Helping to oversee some new app, of all things.”

“Not indefinitely. A few weeks.” I attempted to stretch my legs out as far as the cramped booth would allow. They didn’t go far.

“Why do you need a few weeks?”

An image of Zora, as she was now, as I’d seen her this afternoon, flashed in my mind’s eye. I hadn’t expected to find her office door open. I’d just wanted a peek. Spotting that familiar crown of wild curls had broken something loose inside me. I hadn’t been able to breathe.

Then she’d turned.

She wasn’t a girl anymore. She was a woman. Dear God, was she ever.

From the moment I’d met her, she’d bemoaned the fact that she didn’t share her twin’s ultra-slimness. I’d decked a kid in seventh grade for trying to cop a feel of her chest, but the incident ushered in an era of Zora in oversized T-shirts, sweatshirts, and pullovers. No matter what I’d said, she’d remained convinced she was an overdeveloped freak.

This afternoon, I’d almost swallowed my tongue when she rose from behind her desk. Same big doe eyes, flawless amber skin, and a head full of thick curls I’d loved