more than once. I know how difficult his life has been. It’s hard to watch your heroes fall.”
Boy, did I understand that. “It’s okay,” I assured her.
“You’re going home, aren’t you?”
I could only nod. Thinking about home, leaving all of these people, made the lump in my throat grow tenfold.
“We’ll miss you.” Her gaze flickered to Liam. “All of us.”
“I’ll miss you too.”
“Don’t be a stranger, okay?”
“I won’t.”
Nicole hugged me again next. She held on longer than Naomi did, so long that tears built up in my eyes. “Oh, shit,” she said when she pulled away and saw my face. “And you don’t even have sunglasses. Oh, I’m sorry.” She dug in her purse and shoved some tissues in my hands. “God, this sucks.”
“It does.” Seth came up behind us, wrapping his arms around our shoulders. “I hear you’re leaving us, Tori.”
I nodded again.
“Thank God. I was wondering when I would regain my Nerts crown.”
Nicole and I laughed, and she elbowed him in the ribs. “That just means she needs to come back the next time we’re in town and swipe it from you again.”
“Well, when’s that?”
The smile slid from my lips. “It depends.”
“I think Tori and I need to talk,” Liam said, speaking for the first time since before the funeral had begun.
My heart hammered in my throat, putting a painful kind of pressure on the lump that remained there.
Liam led me away from the group, near where his truck was parked just outside the cemetery. As he faced me, I realized for the first time that his cheeks were wet with tears. Behind his sunglasses, I couldn’t see his eyes, but it was clear that he’d been crying. Something broke within me.
“Oh, Liam.” I gripped the lapels of his jacket and pressed my face into his chest. His arms came around me and held me still. I slid my hands under his jacket, around his back where I clasped them. Even if he wanted to, I wasn’t going to let him out of my grasp any time soon. “I am so very sorry.”
“It’s so fucked up,” Liam finally managed, his voice watery. “I heard what you said, at his graveside. You’re right. I wouldn’t have met you without him. If it wasn’t for this week, you would have returned to Idaho—back to your life—and I would have been alone at my house, not knowing that somewhere in the world, there is a woman whose laugh lights me up even when it feels dark, who makes my chest feel like an empty auditorium when she isn’t near me, a woman whose heartbeat sounds like home.”
Well, after that, whatever doubt I held about my own feelings for Liam had disappeared leaving in its place the ache of knowing I loved him.
26
Hastily I wiped the back of my hands over my cheeks.
“Do you want to sit in your truck?” Tori asked, as if she could read my mind before I could hear its thoughts.
In answer, I hit the unlock button and we climbed in. Tori wasted no space, sliding right onto my lap, her arms tight around my neck, giving me everything I needed. Was it any wonder that I loved her?
“I’m sorry I’m a fucking mess,” I said in her hair.
“I am too.” She pressed a kiss to the side of my face. “We can be messy together.”
Something about the way she said that gave me hope I hadn’t thought to feel. I had come prepared to tell her I wasn’t letting her go without giving me a chance to prove to her why we could last outside of this week. But her offer of us, together, resonated in me. I pulled back to look her in the face. I could see how tired she was, but even still, she was beautiful. Sunshine, on a day drenched in sadness.
“I’m sorry about Vince. He doesn’t know shit.” Our friendship was irrevocably severed after this week—that much was obvious. It didn’t matter how much history you had with someone, the things he said weren’t words you could erase from your memory. “I tried it your way—the temporary shit. I told Vince not to call you my girlfriend because I didn’t want to scare you away. I wanted to ease you into it.”
“From wife to girlfriend,” Tori said with a laugh. “Who would have guessed that was an upgrade?”
“That’s what I want, Tori. I know we promised not to talk about futures, but when I look at mine, I see you so clearly