Stay with Me (With Me in Seattle 9)

“If you’re going to keep punishing her for what your ex did, you don’t deserve her,” Jace says. “Because that shit isn’t fair.”

“She knew from the beginning how I felt about marriage and infidelity,” I reply. “I was always honest about that.”

“And in her head, she was divorced,” Levi replies. “Because she was. And the ex was being a jerk and making it harder for her.”

“I get it,” Jace adds with a shrug. “I would flip my shit if I was in love with someone and I found out she was still legally married.”

“Oh, yeah,” Levi agrees. “I might kill someone. I can make it look like an accident.”

“But now that you’re cooled off, maybe it’s time to listen to her,” Jace says.

“You know, we always think of you as the class clown,” I say to Jace. “But I guess that Ivy League education did its job.”

“I’m smarter than I look,” he says proudly. “I have certificates and everything.”

“You’re such a dork,” Levi says with a laugh.

“I need to talk to her,” I say and then sigh. “I hope it’s not too late.”

“All you can do is try,” Levi says.

“I’m leaving. Sorry, guys, I don’t want to wait.”

“Go.”

I rush out of the restaurant and to my car. The drive home is longer than I’d like and seems to take forever.

The moving truck is gone now, and the house is quiet. I park in my own driveway and hurry over to her front door. I ring the bell and wait.

Nothing.

I ring it again and knock.

Still nothing.

Frustrated, I walk around the house, but there’s no movement inside, just boxes stacked all over the place.

I return to the front door and pound on it one more time in case she’s upstairs or something.

Just as I’m about to leave, Natalie and Jules pull into the driveway.

“What do you want?” Jules asks as they approach me.

“Where’s Amelia?”

“She’s not here,” Jules replies, and Natalie rolls her eyes.

“She’s still in L.A.,” Nat says.

“What the hell, Nat?” Jules demands.

“This is none of our business, and you went through something very similar and, well, it worked out for you, didn’t it?”

“Still.” Jules glares at me. “Okay, I hate it when she’s right.”

“When will she be back?” I ask Natalie.

“In a few days,” she replies and props her hands on her hips, studying me.

“How much do you know?”

“Enough to know that you’re kind of a dick,” Jules says, and I can only hang my head and laugh ruefully.

“Yeah, I’ve been a bit of a dick.”

“No, I’d say a big dick. A giant ol’ dick.” She crosses her arms over her chest. “And contrary to popular belief, women don’t like a giant dick. And I don’t like that you made Lia cry, you insensitive ass.”

“I mean, there were two of us there, so I don’t think this is all my fault.”

“No, she was dumb, too. But you’re not my cousin, so I’m really pissed off at you.” She steps to me and pushes her finger into my chest. “You fucked with someone I love, Wyatt Crawford.”

“What would you like for me to do?”

I don’t flick her finger off of me or even move. She’s on fire.

“Fix it,” she says simply and backs up. “You need to fucking fix it.”

“I’d like to.”

Natalie’s smiling in that serene way she does. I swear, she’s the calmest person I’ve ever met in my life.

“It’s going to work out,” she says with a nod. “Now, we have to meet with the insurance adjuster really quick regarding my studio. Lia will be here in a few days.”

“Thanks.”

I turn to walk away, but Jules steps in front of me, scowling. “Don’t fuck it up, Wyatt. I like you.”

“Despite the fact that I’m a giant dick?”

“I think we can work with that.”

She walks away, and I laugh as I saunter back to my house. I haven’t felt this hopeful in more than two weeks.

I pull out my phone and decide to send Amelia a quick text.

Hey. Drive safely home. I’d like to see you when you get here.

My thumb hovers for a moment, and then I decide . . . fuck it.

I love you.

I hit send.

~Amelia~

“This passenger seat is comfy.” We’ve been on the road for a few hours, and Anastasia offered to drive for the first leg since my head was still full of information from my business meetings. “Do you want snacks yet?”

“No. Did you happen to notice that your snacks look like a seven-year-old was set free in the candy and chip aisle with a hundred bucks?”

“As it should be on a road trip,” I reply with a laugh. “Road trips are for junk food.”

“For someone getting over a man, you sure are eating a lot. When I’m sad, I don’t eat anything at all.”

“I’m the opposite. I eat everything in sight. I can’t help it.” I sigh and open a can of Pringles, then pop a sour cream and onion chip into my mouth. “These are my favorite.”

“Tell me what they said in your meeting.”

“Okay.” I swallow and take a drink of my orange soda. “They showed me the photographs that we took the other day, and they actually turned out really great. They emailed them to me, so I’ll pull them up and show you in a minute. They’re putting together a full campaign, and get this: Sephora wants to exclusively sell all of the products.”

“Shut the fuck up,” she says, staring at me in awe. “As in, the Sephora in pretty much every mall in America?”

“That’s the one.” I nod and feel tears prick my eyes again. “This is big, girl. Like, bigger than anything I could have imagined. YouTube made me a millionaire, but this . . . This could make me wealthier than I ever thought possible.”

“Goddamn it, you’re going to make me cry,” she says and wipes at her eye. “Seriously, Lia, this is so damn great. When will we be able to buy it in the store?”

“If all goes well, next month.” I pass her a tissue and keep one to dab my own eyes. “I’ll do a small tour, showing up at stores to do makeup tutorials and sign headshots.”

“Wow,” she says, shaking her head. “My sister is way cooler than me. And I’m totally okay with that.”

I laugh and lean over to kiss her cheek. She doesn’t even rub it off this time.

“We will have to throw a party when it launches in Seattle.”

“You’ll need cake,” she says excitedly. “So just tell me when, and I’ll clear those days so I’m only making a cake for you. And Nic can cover the cupcakes.”

“Yesss, that’ll be awesome. You could decorate it with little lipsticks and eyeshadow palates that look like Amelia Cosmetics.”

“This is gonna be fun,” she replies with a little shimmy just as my phone pings with a text.

“Holy shit. Wyatt just texted me.”

She glances at me in surprise. “Well, read it. Aloud.”

I read his message to myself first. If I weren’t in the car, I would have come out of my seat. “Are you fucking kidding me?”