Coming Home (19 page)

She turned to Danny, her cheeks heating with embarrassment. “The night of my father’s heart attack was the first time I’d seen him in months. And when I saw him in that hospital bed, with all the wires and machines, all I wanted to do was apologize to him.” She shook her head. “But he was unconscious. They didn’t even know if he would make it.”

Leah shrugged as she said, “After I left the hospital that night, I went to Scott’s apartment and found him in bed with another girl.”

Danny’s head whipped up, and the initial shock on his face transitioned into sympathy before settling on anger.

She nodded slowly. “So there it is. I threw my family away for a controlling, manipulative liar. If my father had died that night, he would have died thinking I resented him, after everything he’d done to try to hold my family together, after how hard he worked to take care of us all.”

He stared at her, his eyes swimming with pain and something else Leah couldn’t quite place.

She used the end of her sleeve to wipe her nose. “I’m pretty awful, huh?”

Danny didn’t say a word. Instead he unclasped their hands and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her against his chest. She stilled for only a second before she relaxed against him, her face buried in the crook of his neck. He brought his lips to the top of her head, leaving them pressed there as he gently played with the ends of her hair.

Leah closed her eyes and exhaled. She would relive that story again and again if it ended with being in his arms, because the way he was holding her made her feel like she was someone worthy of forgiveness.

It was some time before Danny finally spoke, and when he did, she could feel the gentle vibrations in his chest.

“Leah?”

“Hmm?” she said, her eyes still closed.

“The guy who killed your mother. Do you hate him?”

Leah’s eyes opened as she sat up, looking at him. It seemed like such a strange thing to ask, but his expression was smooth as he waited for her answer.

“Um…I don’t know. I mean, I never really think about him. He died on impact.”

He looked down and nodded. “Do you think he got what he deserved?”

Leah chewed on the inside of her lip. Did she think he got what was coming to him when he lost his life? She looked up sheepishly as she asked, “Would it make me a terrible person if I said yes?”

Danny looked down before closing his eyes. “No. It wouldn’t.”

She sat there staring at him, trying to comprehend what he was really asking her. His questions seemed completely irrelevant to their discussion, and yet she knew there must have been some connection she was missing.

“I
will
tell you, Leah,” Danny said after a long silence. When he finally looked back up at her, his expression was a mix of sincerity and fear. “I have to tell you, because I don’t want to stop spending time with you.” He rubbed his hands over his eyes as he said, “It’s just…I don’t even know what I’m up against right now. I need just a little more time.”

“Okay,” she said softly, and his eyes met hers.

“Really?”

She nodded. “You can take whatever time you need. I just can’t be lied to. I don’t ever want to be lied to.”

“I won’t ever lie to you, I promise you that.”

She smiled softly. “That’s all I ask.”

They sat there for a moment, looking at each other, and then Danny closed his eyes as he brought his fingertips to his temples, massaging slow circles.

“You’re feeling it, huh?” Leah asked.

“I think I’m gonna be feeling this shit for days,” he said, wincing slightly as he continued to rub.

She laughed as she stood from the couch, and his eyes flew open. “Where are you going?”

“You need aspirin,” she said. “Bathroom?”

He nodded, closing his eyes again. “Medicine chest above the sink. On the bottom shelf.”

Leah got him the aspirin and stopped in his bedroom to get him the bottle of water she’d left there earlier before returning to the couch and handing them both to him. After he had swallowed the pills and about half the bottle of water, he looked over at her.

“Thanks. I’m still not cleaning up those coffee grounds.”

She laughed and he smiled up at her, revealing the dimples that made her chest flutter. Danny grabbed the pillow and positioned it behind his head as he lay back onto the couch.

And then he lifted his arm, inviting her into the space beside him.

She probably should have shown some hesitation, just to maintain some semblance of dignity, but instead she immediately crawled over to him, laying her head on his chest. He exhaled contentedly as his hand came to the back of her hair, lazily running his fingers through it, and Leah closed her eyes.

It felt so perfect to be lying with him this way, like they had done it a million times before. And she knew she would crave it now, like an addiction that weakened her until it was fed.

Leah sighed softly as she curled her fingers into his shirt, and she felt him kiss the top of her head as he continued playing with her hair.

She didn’t have all her answers yet, but she would. And it was enough to know that for now—to believe that whatever he had to tell her wouldn’t be significant enough to change what was happening between them.

Because she didn’t want to have to walk away from him now.

“How’s that working out for you?”

Danny kept the wad of food tucked in the side of his cheek as he glanced over to where Leah was leaning against his counter, her arms crossed over her chest, fighting a smile.

He brought his fist to his mouth. “S’good,” he mumbled.

Leah chuckled as she pushed off the counter and reached above the refrigerator for the bread, and Danny slid his plate away with a sigh. “Alright. You can say it.”

Her smile broadened as she turned and took the dish from him. “Say what? I told you so?” she asked, dumping the contents in the trash. “I would never.”

He brought his fist back to his mouth and closed his eyes, and she laughed again, giving him a gentle nudge. “Go lie down. Give me five minutes to work my magic,” she said, coming back to the counter and pulling a slice of bread from the bag.

Danny stood quickly and walked toward his bedroom, thankful to get away from the smell of his attempted breakfast. It had been a tried and true hangover cure that he and Bryan accidentally discovered when they were teenagers after drinking themselves sick off a bottle of rum they’d found in the back of Gram’s cabinet. The following morning, Bryan made them each a bacon, egg, and cheese Hot Pocket, figuring if they could get themselves to vomit, they would feel better. Instead, they were miraculously cured after eating them. It was a trick they’d used for years after that.

Danny crawled into his bed and dropped onto his stomach with a huff. He knew it wasn’t going to work, even before he pulled one out of the freezer and Leah looked at him like he’d lost his mind. He’d barely even touched alcohol in the past twelve months, and it had been
years
since he’d been as drunk as he was last night, so he knew it was going to take more than a Hot Pocket to get him straight again. But he was really hoping it might work. And not just because he felt like shit.

He just wanted that memory to be real.

Bryan was disappearing. Every day he slipped a little further away. He was there in pictures and in stories, but he wasn’t
real
anymore.

Danny just wanted something tangible. Something that would prove Bryan had actually existed.

He rolled over and flung his forearm over his eyes as another wave of nausea swept over him. He could hear her in the kitchen, the clinking of silverware and the opening and closing of cabinets as she busied herself, and he wished for the hundredth time that he hadn’t consumed his body weight in liquor last night, because he wanted to be enjoying this.

Leah, in his apartment. In his kitchen, making him breakfast like it was the most natural thing in the world.

She told him he could have whatever time he needed to get his thoughts together, but Danny knew she wasn’t going to wait forever. He also knew that as soon as he explained everything to her, whatever this was would be over. His window of time with her was closing, and he wanted to soak up every second of it before she walked away for good.

And when she left him, he was going to feel it. There was no doubt about that now. In the past few hours, she had managed to slip through the last of his defenses and stake her claim on a piece of his heart. Not because she had helped him get home last night, or because she granted him the extra time he needed to explain himself. Not even because she had stayed to help nurse his hangover.

No, what had completely won him over was the way she tried to absolve him of whatever sin he’d committed by offering up her own transgressions. She laid her shame down at his feet without a second thought—for the sole purpose of easing his suffering.

It had been a long time since he’d seen that level of bravery and selflessness in anyone.

And just like that, his world shifted. It had been such a quiet moment of transformation, nothing like the earth-shattering explosions that had changed the course of his life over the past year, but in its tranquility, it was just as powerful. With that one altruistic move, she had managed to become the measure of what a person should be in his eyes, the standard any woman would have to meet if she had even the slightest chance of winning his heart.

Danny heard her coming down the hall, and he sat up slightly, resting his weight on his elbows as she turned the corner into his bedroom with a plate in one hand and a mug in the other.

“You can quit playing sick now,” she said. “I already cleaned up the coffee.”

He smiled as he sat up further and reached for the plate she offered him. “Jesus. How about a little sympathy? I’m dying over here.”

“Oh, you poor baby,” she crooned as she sat on the edge of his bed, tucking her leg beneath her and resting the mug on her knee. She had twisted her hair up into some kind of messy knot that managed to be both adorable and sexy at the same time; it made him want to toss the plate over the side of the bed and pull her down to the mattress so he could cover her body with his.

Instead, he took a breath and sat up fully, balancing the plate on his thigh as he looked down at what she’d made for him.

“What the hell did you put on this toast?”

“My magic cure.”

Danny lifted his eyes. “It looks like cat puke.”

Leah laughed as she pulled her other leg up onto the bed to face him fully. “It’s mashed banana with a little bit of butter. The salt in the butter will help you retain water, and the bananas have potassium and electrolytes, which you really need right now. Think of it as a sports drink, only without all the sugar that messes with your stomach. Plus, solid food is always a little easier to keep down anyway.”

Danny quirked his brow as she held out the mug. “And this is hot water with lemon juice. Ideally, there should be honey in here too, but you didn’t have any.” He took the mug from her as she said, “The lemon will help settle your stomach. Plus, it’ll give you a little boost of vitamin C.”

“Wow,” he said with a nod before he looked up at her. “So, are you a raging alcoholic?”

Leah huffed as she grabbed a pillow and propped it up against his headboard. “I should’ve let you suffer through the Hot Pocket, you ingrate.”

Danny laughed as she sat back against the pillow and pulled her knees into her chest. “I have an older brother who used to party a lot when we were in high school,” she said. “It was sort of my job on weekend mornings to make him presentable before my father saw him and kicked his ass.”

“But how did you know
this
stuff would work?” he asked before lifting the mug and taking a careful sip, the hot liquid instantly soothing him.

“I didn’t,” she said with a shrug. “It was a lot of trial and error. There were quite a few nasty concoctions before I found this, so you should thank your lucky stars you’re getting me as a seasoned veteran.”

Danny smiled as he moved to sit back against the headboard beside her, taking a bite of the toast and chewing slowly. “It’s not bad,” he said. “Shouldn’t be too rough when it comes back up.”

Leah shook her head as she grabbed the remote from his nightstand and turned the TV on. “When you’re finished, I’ll accept your apology in the form of jewelry or designer shoes,” she said, and he laughed around his mouthful of food.

“Hey!” he complained as she flipped right past ESPN.

“Sorry, but it’s not gonna happen.”

Danny lifted his brow. “Isn’t this my television?”

“Yes, but I got the remote first. That was always the rule in my house. Besides, you don’t have to pretend you only watch sports. There are no other guys around. Judgment-free zone over here,” she said, gesturing around herself as she continued to channel surf.

“Hmm. That’s
actually kind of a relief,” he said, turning back to the TV. “So…porn then?”

She scoffed, waving her hand at him dismissively just as he leaned over to put his plate between them, and the sharp crack of the remote hitting him square in the forehead was immediately followed by Leah’s panicked gasp.