“You’d leave Lake Starlight?”
He shrugs. That’s where Kingston isn’t like his siblings. Most have stayed in Lake Starlight. I think everyone views Sedona as just not coming home after college, but someday she’ll return. And Phoenix goes back and forth between Los Angeles and Lake Starlight, but her home is here. Kingston is the one who never seems to be in Lake Starlight except to sleep.
“Well, don’t say anything. I haven’t asked her, and I’m prepared to get the brush-off at first.”
Kingston sips his beer. “You don’t get sick of her acting like that?”
I shrug. “I love her. To love someone, you love all the parts of them—their faults as well as their attributes. One day I hope I love her enough that she doesn’t feel like she can’t be all in. If I ever get her to marry me, then you’ll know I broke her down.”
He laughs and tips his bottle toward my water bottle. “You’re the only man who can do it.” He sips his beer. “Oh, I was thinking, let’s get everyone together for Jamison’s game. They’re playing the Seattle Sounders this weekend. I’m off unless I get called in.”
“Yeah definitely, we can do it at my house.”
“Perfect.”
“Bailey!” one of his buddies calls.
Kingston holds up his hand. “I better go. They can get kind of rowdy and I don’t want it to ruin Juno’s chances of having these events here. Text me details.” He stands and heads into the other room.
“Kingston,” I call, and he turns around. “As much as it sucks, sometimes you have to move on with your life until that person is ready to face whatever it is between you.”
“Is that how you got my sister? Pretended to get married to push her to make a move?” He laughs as if that’s absurd, and although I smile, guilt pierces my gut.
“Be good, King!” Juno yells, waving and coming back to me. She puts her arms around my neck. “Ready to take me back to your house?”
“I didn’t even give you a pickup line.”
“Eh. Those are overrated. I am the angel God sent down to Earth. You don’t need to walk by again because it was love at first sight, and I think I have a Band-Aid in my purse for that scrape on your knee from falling for me.” She kisses my lips. “See, I took care of it, so now I can crash at your place, Microsoft.” She winks.
I laugh, stand, and grab the box of her stuff, which I carry out the back door.
On the way home, the guilt over what Kingston said grows, making me feel sick to my stomach, and I clench her hand. “Juno?”
“Yeah.” She looks up from her phone.
“How long did you know you had feelings for me?”
She tucks her cell phone inside her purse. “I think they were always there… just… you know how messed up I can be about the future.”
I nod. She didn’t decide where she was going to college until April. She hates to make any future commitments, and the fact Kingston is aware of it says she’s been like that for a long time. Maybe even before her parents’ death, but for some reason, I associate the two as intertwined. We were too young when her parents died to know for certain.
“But the good thing is I did.” She leans over and kisses my cheek.
“It wasn’t only because I was about to marry Brigette though, right?”
She turns down the radio and faces me so her back is pressed to the window. “What’s going on?”
I should’ve figured she’d read me. It’s the number one problem of knowing each other as long as we have. We’ve witnessed the other in too many circumstances. It’s like being a married couple without the sex.
“When I agreed to marry Brigette, I was upset. You had just told me about Trey, and I was pissed off that you’d slept with him and not me. I may have agreed to marry her out of spite.” There. It’s all out there. She can get mad if she chooses, but I would have never been able to continue without her knowing the truth. That I’m not the selfless guy she thinks I am.
“I figured. I don’t like it, but I’m glad to be where we are now. I hate myself for doing that, hurting you so much for so long.”
I stop at a light and now I can finally look at her. She’s really not mad. At least she doesn’t have that scowl I associate with her being pissed off. “You’re okay with that?”
She shrugs. “I see it as the past. After you told me, I connected all the dots. I was so scared of losing you, it took me actually losing you to make me act. As sad as that is.”
The light turns green and I press on the gas to get us home. “Thanks for understanding. I’m sorry if you felt I tricked you in some way. I would never want our relationship to start like that.”
She squeezes my hand. “Colton Stone, I’ve known you long enough to know you don’t do mean-spirited things.”
I nod and pull into my driveway. “Have you thought about moving some stuff in?”
She opens up the door. “Not yet. It’s only been a week. Slow the train a little.” She laughs, getting down, and disappears into my house.
Her phone dings and I pick it up from the center console. It’s an email alert and her screen lights up, popping up the thread. I glance at the garage door into the house and click on the message from her landlord. He states that he cannot give her any more time. The rent is due by this Friday; otherwise he’ll be closing her office Saturday.
My head falls back to the headrest and I close my eyes. How did I not see she was in trouble before now?
I turn off her
