Coming Home(64)

He pulled his brow together before dropping his eyes to the floor, and Leah chewed on the corner of her lip, summoning the courage to say the rest.

“I mean, can we just be real with each other? I like you. I really do. And if you don’t or you can’t feel the same way, for whatever reason, then just tell me.”

He lifted his eyes back to hers, a defeated expression on his face. “I do like you, Leah. A lot. That’s the problem.”

“Why is that a problem?”

Danny looked down again, shaking his head slightly. She waited for him to speak for nearly a minute before she broke the silence, trying her luck with a different question.

“What did you lie to me about?”

He sat up, gripping the edge of the coffee table. “I never lied to you. Everything I’ve told you about myself is true. It’s just…there are things I haven’t told you.”

“Lies of omission, then.”

Danny looked up to the ceiling, inhaling deeply. “It’s not lying. It’s just…not sharing everything.” His eyes met hers as he said, “You’ve done it too.”

“What are you talking about? What haven’t I told you?”

Danny shrugged. “Lots of things, I’m sure. What happened to your mom, for instance.”

Leah pursed her lips as his point hit home. There were things he didn’t know about her either. Things she chose not to share. How could she condemn him for something she herself had done?

“Okay,” she said, kicking her shoes off before sitting cross-legged on the couch. Leah pulled the throw pillow onto her lap as she said, “She died in a car accident. Some guy was driving drunk and came over the divider. Hit her head on.”

Danny closed his eyes and shook his head slightly. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “Recently?”

“About fifteen years ago.”

The room fell silent, and Leah kept her eyes on the throw pillow as she picked at a fraying thread. After a few seconds, she saw him lean forward, and she looked up to see him resting his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped in front of his mouth.

“Does it get easier?” he asked.

The second the words left his mouth, something passed between them, and she smiled sadly. “In some ways yes, and in others, not even remotely.”

He nodded, his eyes dropping to watch her fingers play with the loose thread on the pillow.

“Who did you lose?”

He swallowed hard, and it was a moment before he said, “My best friend.”

“Bryan?” she asked, and his eyes flashed to hers as he straightened abruptly.

“How did you know that?”

She shrugged. “It was just a guess. The round of shots at the bar. Tommy said they were for Bryan, and you seemed to get upset.”

Danny took a breath, his shoulders relaxing before he nodded. “Yeah. Bryan.”

The room fell silent again, and Danny scooted forward, finding a frayed string on the other side of the pillow and mimicking Leah’s actions.

“How long ago?” she asked, pretty sure she already knew the answer.

“Yesterday was a year.”

Leah nodded. They both knew he didn’t need to say anything else, and it was a moment before he spoke the words that were like a slap to her face. “He was Catherine’s grandson.”

Her head snapped up, and unexpectedly, her eyes filled with tears. She had no idea why that affected her the way it did, but the idea of that woman burying her grandson absolutely crushed her. An image of Catherine flashed in her mind: the oversized jacket, the big bulky gloves, the man’s ring hanging from a chain on her neck.