Page 104 of Return Policy
Her gaze connects with mine. “You don’t think I’m an awful person?”
“Never. You’re the best person I know. One mistake doesn’t change that.”
“You don’t want to leave?” she asks hesitantly, gnawing on her lower lip.
“I already told you, I won’t ever leave you. Your secrets are my secrets. Your pain is my pain. You and me against the world, Sunflower.”
“I just made a…mistake,” she says quietly.
“You made a mistake,” I repeat.
“I’m not a monster,” she whispers.
“No, baby. You’re not a monster.”
She frowns and blinks away the tears. “I wish I could take it all back… I wish I could go back and tell Seth he’s wrong and call someone. Then I could move on from this instead of letting the worst thing I’ve ever done hang over me like a storm cloud.”
“Do you want to do something about it?”Mark would know what to do.
“There’s nothing I can do.” Her shoulders deflate. “At this point, it would just be my word against his.”
“Didn’t you say Charlie was in the car? What about her word?”
Sophia shakes her head. “She’ll never testify.”
I tap my forehead to hers. “Well, if you ever change your mind, I promise I’ll stand beside you the entire way.”We have to find a way to end this shit.
“Thanks.” She smiles weakly and reaches up to touch my face. “You’re the only one I’ve ever told about this. Not even Sage or my family knows.”
I place my hand on her neck, leaning in to kiss her softly. “Thank you for trusting me.”
It might be time I return the favor.
29
SOPHIA
“Nice shirt,” Elijah says, eyes glued to my graphic tee that has a huge corn on it with the words “Thanksgiving is A-MAIZE-ING.” “The husk really matches your eyes.”
A breathy laugh rumbles out of me. “Thought you’d like it.”
“Okay, so I have a new mix to show you on the drive to Longwood,” he says, opening the passenger door of my car and helping me inside. His truck is in the shop getting the bumper fixed after the accident last week.
“A new mix? What are you, seventy?” I tease. “Also, I will be DJ’ing for our journey, thank you very much.’
“Thedriverpicks the playlist,” he says sternly as he gets in the driver’s seat.
“But it’smycar!”
“Doesn’t matter.” He shakes his head. “Driver gets to DJ, that’s the rule.”
“Fine… But your taste in music better be awesome. I’m not interested in spending two hours listening to Celine Dion.”
“Uh-oh. Is that Sophia Summers’s deal breaker? Shitty taste in music?”
“Guess you’ll have to find out.” I shrug, and he narrows his eyes at me playfully.
Elijah connects to my car’s Bluetooth as I buckle myself in. He reaches over, placing his large hand on my leg. Even after our talk last week, he’s been completely normal. If anything, he’s beenmoreaffectionate. I haven't for one second felt I made the wrong choice telling him. It’s like a tremendous weight has lifted off my shoulders finally having everything out in the open between us.
