Page 126 of The Lucky One

“You sure?” Henry asked.

“Yes, Emily’s friends are coming over soon. I want to be there for it. But call me as soon as you know more.”

“Okay, honey.” They gave each other an affectionate kiss, not a rare occasion, but I loved it every time. “Paul!” Henry hollered again.

Paul came bounding up the stairs. “What is it?”

“The police want you to identify a suspect. Let’s go.” Henry went ahead.

Paul gave me a startled look. His face had gone pale. I went up to him and gave him a hug. “I think he came through,” I whispered in his ear.

About an hour later I rushed down the stairs at the sound of the doorbell, my hair freshly washed, still in sweatpants. “Slow down, honey!” Gena called after me from the living room, where we’d set up mirrors, brushes and nail polish. We hadn’t heard anything from Henry yet.

Throwing the door open, I smiled at my friends. Danielle led the way, her blond hair shinier than usual, her eyes bare of their usual eyeliner. Kiki’s black hair flowed freely, and her lips lacked her trademark cherry red, yet she was more radiant than ever. Hannah beamed, making her freckles dance on her skin. They were beautiful, inside and out, and I had to fight back the urge to tear up at the sight of them. These were real friends—the kind I had never had before. And I knew they wouldn’t forget me after I left. “Hey, guys,” I said, overcome with emotion.

They responded with cheerful greetings, and then Danielle said, “There’s someone who wants to talk to you.”

They stepped aside, revealing someone else at the bottom of the steps.

My smile froze as Breana looked up at me with her big brown eyes. “Can we talk... please?”

I considered it. Breana’s absence in my life in the past few months had left a void, and I missed her. She had been my first friend here, the one who’d invited me into her group.

“Go on ahead, guys.” I ushered everyone in. Danielle gave me a reassuring look as she passed. I settled on the edge of the doorstep and Breana joined me. I fiddled with my fingers, waiting for her to speak. The front yard boasted spring flowers that had come out the other week, making the house look more beautiful than ever.

“I’m so sorry for being so irrationally angry with you,” she said. Her gaze was fixed on the horizon, as if searching for words on an invisible teleprompter. “I know the way I treated you wasn’t right... I was just—so angry.”

“Why though?” I asked.

She sighed. “When Paul dumped me to be with you instead—”

“While he was still with Jamie,” I interjected. Based on her stance against cheaters, she should have been upset with him and herself as well.

Breana let out a little laugh. “Yep, I’m a hypocrite.”

I couldn’t help but laugh too. She grabbed my hand. “I felt like you got the perfect guy without even trying... While I’d been dreaming of being with Paul ever since middle school. When he chose you over me, I kept telling myself it was because you were the one for him. For some reason, it made it easier.”

She took a deep breath, as if the thought of those days made her upset again.

“So when you ditched him for Jon, I couldn’t understand how you could throw away someone so perfect. And then Leni cheated on me...”

I let her words linger in the air. I wasn’t down with the way she’d treated me, but I could empathize with her turmoil.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is, being angry with you was easier than accepting that I wasn’t Leni’s one person he would change for,” Breana said, squeezing my hand. I had almost forgotten she was holding it. “Can you forgive me?”

“Of course, Bre.”

She gave a bright smile and pulled me into a tight hug. “Gosh, I’ve missed you so much,” she said, breaking the embrace. “There’s so much I’ve been meaning to tell you!”

She caught me up on everything I had missed in the last couple of months. Countless fights with her mother. Getting together with Jackson, breaking up with him again. I couldn’t help but grumble at the mention of his name.

“About that,” she said. “I went to see Madison.”

I gasped. “Madison?”

Breana nodded. “She told me what you did for her, and she’s keeping the baby. Jackson says he wants nothing to do with it. What an asshole!”

“Poor Madison.” I sighed, genuinely feeling sorry for her.