The Art of Holding On by Burgoon Beth Ann

Author:Burgoon, Beth Ann [Burgoon, Beth Ann]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2020-01-23T16:00:00+00:00

29

Sam takes a quick step toward me, because nothing—not my lies, my fears or my confession that he broke my heart—can stop him from going after what he wants. “I won’t. I promise, I won’t.”

He’s so earnest. Sincere. I want to believe him. I want to so badly. Isn’t that the problem?

Wanting something impossible?

“You can’t promise that,” I say. “And neither can I.”

“But that’s what you want, isn’t it? Promises. A guarantee. Jesus, Hadley.”

He whirls around. Paces to the dresser, keeps his back to me, his hands on his hips, his head tipped up. I watch as he takes a couple of deep breaths. Then he faces me.

“Valentine’s Day.”

I look around, trying to figure out what corner he picked those two words out of and why he’d think an overly commercialized, barely-even-a-real-holiday is relevant to this conversation. “What?”

“Valentine’s Day. Sophomore year. Do you remember it?”

“Sam, what--”

“Abby and I were together. I bought her a necklace and took her out to dinner. Do you remember?”

“I remember.”

He’d showed me the necklace, a delicate gold chain with an open-heart pendant. He’d asked me if I thought Abby would like it.

She’d loved it—like I’d told him she would. Abby’s the kind of girl who wants typical V-Day gifts—hearts and flowers and a box of chocolates.

“But I came to see you first,” he reminds me. “Before I picked her up. I stopped at your place.”

I nod, unsure where he’s going with this. “You brought me croissants.”

A dozen freshly baked, perfectly flaky, melt-in-your-mouth croissants from the Davis Bakery. He’d been so handsome in dark slacks and a deep blue button-down. His hair had been shorter then, the curl almost cut off, the ends waving wildly.

I was so jealous. Of that stupid, unimaginative necklace and the dozen roses in his SUV and the dinner. Jealous that Abby got to be the one to sit across from him, gazing at him in the candlelight.

I told myself it was because Sam was in a relationship and I wasn’t. A pity party for the single girl, stuck at home with her sisters and a newborn on Valentine’s Day. That it was because of the time he spent with her—time that took him away from me. From our friendship.

Oh, yeah. I’m a liar from way back.

“I gave you that box of croissants,” Sam says, coming closer, “and it was like I’d given you a box of diamonds. You were so happy. So…bright.” He stops inches from me and I tip my head back to maintain eye contact, looking at him from under the brim of my hat. “You hugged me.”

“Did I?” I ask, shooting for nonchalance, as if I don’t remember. As if a hug from me didn’t matter.

Sam’s having none of it, none of my games. None of my lies. Not now. “You hugged me. For the first time ever.”

“We’d hugged before.”

“No. I’d hugged you before. That night, you hugged me. You reached out to me, you touched me and…God, Hadley…I didn’t want to let you go.”

“But you did.” I remember the moment exactly.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.