Slowly We Trust (Fall and Rise #3)(57)
Author: Chelsea M. Cameron

“Oh my God, you’re alive. I feel like I need to call you every now and then just to make sure because I never see you anymore. What happened to bros before hos?” I gave him a scathing look.

“What happened to bros before boyfriends? Because you’re kind of being a hypocrite right now. You’re the one who’s always off with Brady. I’m shocked he isn’t here right now. Or maybe he is. Brady? You here?” I looked in Simon’s closet and then under his bed. A book went flying at my head and I had to duck.

“Whatever. We’re both wrapped up in our relationships. It’s a good thing they all get along, or things might be awkward.” He had a good point. It would suck if either of our significant others didn’t get along.

“It happens,” I said, sitting down on my bed. Simon looked up from his books. “Speaking of your girl, where is the lovely lady?”

“She’s off with Trish again. They’ve become buddies. It’s weird, but they seem to get along.” Not many people got along with Trish, so I guess it was good that she had a group of friends.

“I love how Trish pretends to be all tough, but then she’s obsessed with those sappy romances and she’s always doing nice things she doesn’t want people to know about. She’s a really sweet girl under the tattoos and the makeup and the orange hair,” he said.

“And the boots, don’t forget those.”

“So, are you here to stay, or are you on your way out again?” Simon said.

“I’m just here to grab a few things and then I’m meeting Aud. Hey, I need your help for a Valentine’s surprise for her. I need everyone’s help, actually. I want it to be spectacular.”

I told him my idea and, unlike Lottie, he thought it was inspired and brilliant.

“There’s this place only about ten minutes away that has a roller rink. I can call there and see what they do for parties, if you want.”

“That would be great, thanks, man.”

“What are best friends for?”

I only heard Eddie’s side of the conversation with Maria, and I wished I could have heard the whole thing. He was silent for long stretches, listening. Whatever she said to him, he visibly relaxed and his hands stopped twitching.

“Thank you. I’ll do that. Bye.” He hung up and handed the phone back to me.

“What did she say?” I asked.

“She said that I could meet her if I came to them. She’s too sick to travel right now.” That I knew.

“When are you going?”

“Tomorrow. I need to see her.” I swallowed. “Do you . . . do you have any pictures of her?”

I shook my head.

“No, I don’t. I didn’t want any. When she was born, I didn’t even want them to show her to me. I thought it would be easier that way. If I couldn’t picture her face and see my features in it. If I saw her on the street, I wouldn’t know what she looked like.”

Eddie was silent for a long time.

“I’m still angry with you, but I’m sorry about how I reacted initially. That wasn’t fair to you. I get that you were scared and you didn’t know what else to do. You did what you thought was best. I mean, I didn’t think I’d ever feel this way. I always heard about guys and their girlfriends having scares, and I thought I would feel a certain way. But then you told me her name and all I could do was see this little girl in my head and I wanted to know about her.”

The waitress came back and asked for our order. I picked something random off the menu and Eddie got the same.

“I’m so sorry, Eddie. I really am.”

“I know you are. But now I have a chance to do something for her.”

“That’s right.”

“Do you . . .” he paused. “Do you want to come with me? To see her? It doesn’t feel right that we shouldn’t both be there. We’re her biological parents, after all.”

Biological parents. The term seemed so clinical. Remote.

“I don’t know. I don’t know if I could do it.”

“You can. We’ll do it together. And your aunt seems really nice. I can’t believe she agreed to let me come.”

He reached for my hands, nearly knocking over his water glass.

“Please come with me.”

“Okay.”

25

“Hey, beautiful,” Will said that evening when Trish dropped me off. She’d been almost completely silent on the way to see Eddie and on the way back. I didn’t know if she was mad at me, or mad about something else.

“Hey,” I said, my smile coming out at the sight of him. I couldn’t help it. Even with everything going on, he still made me smile.

I didn’t know what excuse I was going to give to Will when I told him that I was going to be gone on Sunday. If I had my own car, things would be so much easier. Eddie was going to pick me up on campus, but not at my dorm.

Will gave me another crushing kiss and picked me up off my feet. I loved that he was tall enough to do that.

“How did whatever you were secretly doing go?” I put my arms around his neck and we stood there in the cold parking lot, just sort of swaying together. The pieces of my heart drifted closer together when I was with him. I didn’t feel as damaged.

“Fine. It went fine. Are you hungry?” I could almost always distract Will with food. Like any man.

“Starving, but I was waiting for you.” He took my hand and we went back up to my room. We ordered in a lot now, mostly because we’d gotten sick of all the on-campus dining choices. And it meant we could eat in our underwear.

“I’m always waiting for you,” he said.

“I’m here now.”

“So I have to go run another errand tomorrow. All day. I’m, um, borrowing a car from this guy Tyler. You remember him.” His eyes narrowed at the mention of Tyler.

“Yeah, I remember him.”

“Stop being jealous. You don’t have to be jealous of him.”

“I’m not jealous,” he said, stabbing his fork in a container of sweet and sour pork.

“Yes, you are. But it’s fine.”

“Why are you borrowing a car from him? You can take my car. Or Lottie’s, or Stryker would loan you one.” I knew he was going to ask questions, but this was the best story I could come up with. I’d just have to make the story believable.

“He’s got a really nice car. A convertible. I was talking about how bad I felt for making all of you drive me around, and he handed me the keys. Said he didn’t need it this weekend. I just took the opportunity.” Please buy it, Will. Please.