75. Lolly
seventy-five
Lolly
Bailey tells me about Liam’s current job, about his friend Chuck and his wife, Jenna. He tells me about his Dad’s heart attack and how Natalie was by his side through the whole thing.
My heart aches for him when his eyes fill with tears and his voice becomes unsteady.
“I’m sorry, Bailey. Losing someone you love is life-changing. The grief can be suffocating.”
“Yeah,” he says with a reluctant smile. “She knew about you, you know? She knew everything,” he says with a laugh. “I mean, not everything,” he clarifies.
“Lucky for her,” I laugh.
The small lines around his eyes soften, “I miss her every fucking day,” he offers.
“I know.”
I tell him about Mom, about Corina and the system I set up so I can watch her and speak to her while I’m gone. I tell him about remodeling Jay’s shop.
“I just want you to know, even though it probably doesn’t matter at this point, that the person you saw me dancing with that night at the club is one of my best friends, Jinx. I’ve known them since high school and we’ve never been anything more than friends,” I say.
“Oh, I thought you two were…” he doesn’t finish.
“We weren’t. I chased after you but you got lost in the crowd. I just—I just wanted you to know that I wouldn’t have invited you just to shove someone else in your face like that,” I admit.
“Thank you for telling me. Honestly, had I not been sloppy drunk already, I might have had the sense to talk to you and not run off like that,” he says with a shy smile.
“Come on,” I say as I stand and offer him a hand. “Let me buy you a book.”