I wanted to bottle up the sound and release it on my saddestdays because I was certain that her laughter would always make me smile, even at my lowest points.
“I owe you, Landon,” she said, walking backward.
“For what?”
She looked around, wide-eyed and completely in awe of her surroundings. Her hands fell against her chest as she locked her stare with mine and stole my breath away. “Making this dream come true.”
“Always, Chick.”
I think I meant that.
I think I meant always.
“But just to be clear, this doesn’t mean I don’t still hate you, because I do,” she said with a sparkle in her eyes.
I grinned. “Don’t worry. I still hate you, too.”
She smiled, because she knew it was a lie.
I could never hate her. Even if I tried.
* * *
The following Sunday, I headed over to Maria’s for dinner, fully prepared to have my mind blown by her lasagna. I missed her home-cooked meals so much, but not as much as I missed our Sundays together. For a long part of my life, those Sunday dinners saved me from falling too deep into my depression. Maria hadn’t known how much of a lifeline she’d been for me during my darkest days.
“Is it just me, or does it smell like heaven in here?” I remarked as Maria opened her apartment door for me. I held a bottle of red wine in my grip and held it out to her. “I’m sure you already had a drink picked out, but I figured it would be rude to not show up with a bottle.”
“Oh, this looks fancy. It will go great with everything. Thank you. Now come in, come in, make yourself at home.”
I did as she said, taking off my shoes as I walked inside.
Maria’s home felt so welcoming, just like the woman who lived inside of it.
“Shay and Camila should be on their way soon enough,” she explained. “One or both are always running behind.”
“Did you tell them I was joining you all?”
“I figured it would be a nice surprise,” she said, heading back to the kitchen to finish preparing the meal.
Oh boy. I wasn’t sure how either of the two were going to take to me joining their dinner party. It was no secret that Camila wasn’t my biggest fan when I was a teenager, and I was certain she’d hated me even more after things went south with Shay. I wouldn’t hold it against her if she despised me completely.
Then there was Shay. Sure, we’d spent the past few days on set together, but I wasn’t certain we were to the point of having Sunday dinners with one another. She was letting me in a little at a time, and I didn’t feel right crashing into her world too much. I wanted to work my way back in, but I didn’t want to seem desperate—even though I was. I wanted her back in my life to the extreme, but I also knew I didn’t want to scare her off at all.
“I put out a photo album on the living room table if you want to flip through it to see some adorable photographs of Shay while I finish setting the table.”
Don’t mind if I do.
I hurried to the couch and picked up the album. As I began flipping through it, the widest smile in the world fell to my lips as I studied a young Shay riding a pony. She looked absolutely terrified by the whole situation, which made the picture thatmuch better. The next one was an awful elementary school photograph with her hair in two messy pigtails. I couldn’t help but snicker at the sight of it. Even though it was a bad, bad picture, it was so perfect.
She was an adorable kid. I used to wonder what she looked like as a child—and wonder what our kids would look like if we had any.
As I flipped through the photos, the doorbell rang, and Maria hurried to let the new arrivals in. My head was down as I heard voices from behind me.
I stood from the couch and turned around to see Shay. Confusion swirled in her eyes as she looked my way.
“Landon. What are you doing here?” Shay asked.
“Maria invited me over for dinner a few days ago.”