“For what?” she asked.

He gestured toward her with his beer bottle. “For giving me back that smile.”

Leah lay in her bed, holding her cell phone against her stomach as she stared up at the ceiling. The more defined her plans became, the faster her heart pounded in her chest. She had thought about it the whole way home from her father’s house; after spending the week isolated from Danny, she knew she still wanted him in her life; she just wasn’t sure in what capacity. Could she begin a relationship with him, knowing what was at stake? Or would it make more sense to remain his friend?

Would she even be able to draw the line at friendship, if that’s what she decided?

The only way she was going to figure that out would be to spend time with him.

She didn’t trust herself alone with him. Not yet. Not with the unresolved sexual tension still raging between them every time they were in the same room together. But this weekend would be the perfect chance to see him again—and to let the people who mattered to her get acquainted with him.

Before she had even made the conscious decision to do so, she was scrolling through her contacts. Her thumb hovered over the call button for just a second, and then she closed her eyes and tapped it before bringing the phone to her ear.

He answered after the first ring.

“Hello?”

Butterflies fluttered through her stomach at the familiar sound of his voice, and she smiled. “Hi.”

“Leah,” he said softly. He cleared his throat before he said, “How are you?”

“I’m doing okay. You?”

“Not too bad.”

A pregnant silence filled the space between them, and Leah chewed on her bottom lip as she twirled the ends of her hair between her fingers. “So, I wanted to ask you something.”

“What is it?”

She released her lip before she said, “Do you want to have dinner this weekend?”

When he didn’t respond right away, she said, “Robyn gets back from her honeymoon tomorrow, so me and Holly and her boyfriend are going over there Saturday night as sort of a ‘welcome home’ thing.”

It took him a few seconds to respond, and when he finally spoke, he seemed taken aback. “And you want me to go with you?”

“Yeah. If you want to. It’ll be pretty laid-back. You know, just hanging out. If you have plans or something, it’s okay—”

“No, I don’t have plans,” he said. “I, um…I can go. It sounds fun.”

“Great,” she said, her pulse kicking up a notch in anticipation. “Do you want to meet at my place around six?”

“Yeah, that works.”

“Okay. So I’ll see you Saturday then.”

“Okay,” he said, still sounding caught off guard.

“Alright,” she said, coiling her hair around her finger. “And…Danny?”

“Yeah?”

Leah closed her eyes. “I also called to tell you…that I miss you.”

He exhaled into the phone, and this time when he spoke, his words were flooded with relief and something else she couldn’t quite place.

“I miss you too, Leah.”

“So when can we hang out with her again?”

Danny shook his head as he opened his soda. “Could you do me a solid and swallow your food before you talk?”

“Why?” Jake mumbled around his meatball sub. “You can understand me.”

“Yeah, because that was my issue. Not the fact that I’m getting sprayed with fucking shrapnel from your mouth.”

Jake smirked. “Don’t change the subject. When can we chill with her again?”

“I think you’re getting way ahead of yourself,” Danny said, taking a bite of his pizza.

“How am I getting ahead of myself? She knows what’s up and she’s still around. You hung out with her twice in the past two weeks.”

Danny chewed slowly before taking a sip of his soda. Jake was right, of course; Leah hadn’t disappeared from his life, and he had seen her two times since he’d told her everything.

The first time, when they had hung out at her friends’ apartment, things started off awkwardly between them; on the drive over to Robyn’s, there were a lot of uncomfortable silences and forced small talk. It was as if they didn’t know how to behave in this ‘in-between’ phase that had them fighting all their instincts and inclinations toward each other.

As soon as they’d gotten there, though, things improved almost instantly. Robyn and Holly were just as amiable and welcoming as they had been that first night at The Rabbit Hole, and the guys were both down-to-earth, working-class guys who were easy to talk to.

Danny had no idea if any of her friends knew his deal, but if they did, either they didn’t care, or they were phenomenal at faking tolerance. Regardless, as soon as Leah was around them, she loosened up. Maybe she was waiting for their approval. Maybe she just needed to be in the presence of a support system. But either way, her interactions with Danny became more natural and relaxed until they were talking and laughing like nothing had ever caused a rift in what had started between them.

After dinner Robyn brought out the game Catch Phrase, and they spent the rest of the night laughing their asses off as they tried to get one another to guess the clues. It was the most fun he’d had in a long time.

When they drove back to her place that night, he walked her to her door before he was about to head back to his car.

And that’s when she kissed him.

A quick peck on the mouth, but it was enough to have him feeling like he could run the whole way back to his apartment.

The second time they’d hung out, Leah had gone with her sister-in-law to some sort of prenatal appointment about ten minutes away from his shop. She’d texted him and asked if he wanted to grab lunch on his break, and Danny met her at the diner down the block. That time there was no awkwardness whatsoever; they talked effortlessly throughout the meal, and when they’d said good-bye, she hugged him and told him to call her later.

The idea that she still wanted to spend time with him, that she continued to treat him the way she had before she found out he had ended someone’s life, it all seemed too good to be true—and despite the fact that he had accused Jake of getting ahead of himself, the truth was, Danny was afraid he might be the one guilty of it.

He took another bite of pizza. “Just because she didn’t give me my walking papers doesn’t mean she wants to be with me.”

“It means she still wants to be around you.”

Danny shook his head. “I’m not gonna push her. I don’t know what she wants. This has gotta be on her terms, alright? Just leave it alone.”

He needed to keep reminding himself of that. Because the more he thought about their situation, the more hopeful he became, and he couldn’t afford to be on a different page than she was.

“Invite her out for your birthday.”

Danny laughed in disbelief. “Did you not hear a single word I just said?”

“No, I heard you,” Jake said around another mouthful of food. “I just think you’re being a fucking tool.”

Danny stopped chewing as he stifled a smile. “Since when is it acceptable to call your boss a fucking tool to his face?”

“Come on, man,” Jake said. “I see what this is about. You don’t want to get your hopes up in case she’s not offering you what you want from her. But the bottom line is, this girl likes being around you. Maybe she wants to be your friend, maybe she wants to be more. I get the whole ‘give her space’ thing, but if you play this too cool, you’re gonna fuck it up. You don’t wanna look indifferent. You think she’s gonna stick around in any capacity if she thinks you don’t give a shit either way?”

Danny stared at his friend. Maybe it was because Jake spent so much of his time saying things that were intentionally provocative or offensive, but on those rare occasions when he came from a place of sincerity, his words seemed that much more profound.