Coming Home(101)

“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 f*cking 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.