Love Me Like I Love You

by Willow Winters

  Lisa narrows her eyes. “Trust you? I hardly like you. I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt for Sierra’s sake. You tell her, or I will.”

  Anger surges through me. “If you care about Sierra like you say you do, you’ll fucking wait,” I say through gritted teeth. “Give her some time.” I glance up, making sure no one can hear us. Sierra says something to her aunt that makes her smile, and my heart softens.

  “Give her time?”

  “Yes. Don’t like me. Don’t trust me. But fucking listen for Sierra's sake, who you say you care about. It’s not my place to go into details, just…just be there for her.”

  Sierra comes back and I put my arm around her.

  “Hey, Lisa,” she says sounding a bit like her old self. “Are you coming to dinner tonight?”

  Lisa looks right at me. “I wouldn’t miss it.”

  My first fishing experience was interesting, to say the least. Doing anything with a four-year-old has the potential to end up being disastrous, and when you throw in live bait, yards of tangly fishing line, and a muddy riverbank, you’re playing with fire. Still, spending time outside with my brother and niece was nice. Needed, even. It was a good way to decompress, and now that I’m showered and changed and headed to Sierra’s house, I feel I have a clearer head to offer her.

  I park in front of Sierra’s house and get out of my car, squinting in the bright sunlight. Lisa’s car is parked next to Sierra’s BMW. We have to be at her parents’ in an hour for dinner, and I was hoping to have some alone time with her before then.

  The screen door opens and smacks shut. Lisa emerges from the porch and stops short when she sees me.

  “Hey,” I say, trying to be civil. Not getting along with her best friend will upset Sierra. “Did you two talk?”

  “Yes,” she says, the word leaving her mouth like a hiss. “We did.”

  “Did Sierra tell you?”

  “She told me everything.”

  A knot loosens in my chest. Sierra needs to talk about this, needs to let her friends and family know what she’s going through. “She’s hurting more than she lets on.”

  “Of course, she’s hurting.”

  I run my hand through my hair. “I am too,” I say quietly.

  Lisa lets out a snort of laughter. “You did it to her.”

  The harshness in her words shocks me. “We did it to each other.”

  “You are unbelievable.” She rolls her eyes. “Don’t act like you’re so hurt by something you did for your benefit.”

  “It’s not like I meant to get her pregnant, but I certainly didn’t want her to lose it either.” I shake my head. “I’ve met some nasty people in my life, and you’re taking it to a whole new level.”

  “What?” The color leaves Lisa’s face.

  “You don’t like me. Sierra’s mom doesn’t like me. Judy Henson doesn’t like me. This whole town wishes I would leave. I get it. I fucking get it. But who the fuck are you to say I’m not allowed to be hurt by this? It was my baby too.”

  Lisa’s hands go to her chest and she struggles to breathe. “Sierra had a miscarriage? I…I didn’t know. Oh my God.” Her eyes widen and she looks like she might puke. “That’s why you said to wait.”

  My heart drops out of my chest. Lisa doesn’t have to say it for me to know: she told Sierra about the messages. That’s what they talked about. Sierra hadn’t told her about the baby. Instead of being allowed to heal, Lisa came in and ripped her heart into even more broken pieces.

  I run past Lisa and into the house. “Sierra!” I call, but she doesn’t answer. She’s not in the living room or the kitchen. I check her bedroom. She’s not there. I race to the back porch, but she’s not there either. My head spins and my heart is going to explode. I need to find Sierra. I need to make things right. She’s hurting so fucking bad already.

  Sierra isn’t in the house. I stand at the top of the stairs, panic rising in my chest. Where the hell did she go? I whirl around, remembering the hidden room. In a fury of desperation, I go into the closet and move the trapdoor.

  Sierra is sitting cross-legged on the ground. Her back is to me and she’s clicking the flashlight on and off.

  “Sierra?”

  She doesn’t turn around.

  “Sierra.” I emerge through the crawlspace and stand, going over to her. I sit on the dusty floor and put my hand on her thigh. She clicks the flashlight off and then on again.

  “Lisa told me you have Jake’s old phone. She said all the messages I left him are still there and you listened to them. It sounds too crazy to be true.”

  I want to tell her yes, it’s too crazy and Lisa is making up shit, but it’s okay because we have each other. I can delete the voicemails and give her the phone. She’d never know.

  But I can’t lie.

  “It is true.”

  Sierra turns to me, and the hurt and betrayal on her face is the worst thing I’ve ever seen. “I don’t understand.”

  “Whoever cleared the memory on his phone didn’t do it properly before selling it,” I slowly explain. “They manually deleted things but forgot to go in and get rid of the messages. I didn’t know it was you at first. Not until you gave me your number that day at the bookstore.”

  “But you still listened to them after you knew?”

  “I did.” The confession is like a knife to my heart. “I shouldn’t have and I’m sorry.”

  The light turns off and when Sierra turns it back on, tears are streaming down her face. “I struggled so much with the guilt I felt about wanting to know about your past. I knew you had been arrested and I told myself it didn’t matter because the person you are right now is all that matters. And you…you knew everything about me. The things I said in those messages…” She shuts the light off again. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I didn’t want to risk hurting you. Or losing you. I love you, Sierra.”

  “You haven’t deleted them.”

  “No, and I have no good reason for that. I’m so sorry. After I heard the first one I had to keep listening. Your words spoke to me in a way I never thought was possible.”

  She clicks on the light. “The words weren’t for you.”

  Silence falls between us, and I hear my rapid heartbeat in my ears. “It’s hot up here. Let’s go downstairs and talk.”

  “There’s nothing to talk about,” she says and her voice breaks. “I figured it out.” Her eyelids shut and a river of tears pour down her cheeks. I reach out to wipe them away and kiss her lips, but she pushes me away.

  “I know the reason,” she goes on with a shaky voice. “All of this happened…losing Jake…meeting you…getting pregnant just to lose it…it was to remind me that I’ll never get a happy ending.”

  “No. Sierra, no. That’s not true. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you. A happy ending. Before I even met you, I wished for you to be happy.”

  “You need to go.”

  “Don’t say that. Please, Sierra.” My breath catches in my chest. My throat tightens and I think I’m dying. “You don’t mean it.”

  “I do.” She closes her eyes and wraps her arms around herself. “I can’t do this, Chase. I trusted you and this whole time you…you had this information on me and kept going like things were normal.”

  “I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to tell you. I was going to tell you. Just not now. Not after the loss.”

  “I have a hard time believing you. What if we hadn’t lost the baby? Would you have waited until it was born? And then waited again?”

  “I…I don’t know. All I know is that I love you more than anything, Sierra.”

  “I need some time alone.”

  “I’ll go downstairs and wait. I’ll be there, whenever you’re ready.”

  “No. Leave. Please. If you love me like you say you do, then go.”

  Tears fill my eyes. I’ve never cried in my adult life before. “I do love you.”

  “Then go.”

  I look down and feel a tear roll dow
n my cheek. I angrily brush it away and go through the crawlspace. I leave the trapdoor open, hoping to get some fresh air inside the hidden room to keep Sierra from getting overheated.

  I stand, feeling dizzy. I want to tell myself things will be okay. That Sierra will be upset and mad at me for a while but will understand. I didn’t do anything on purpose to hurt her. Yet the betrayal and invasion of privacy is blatant and I have no excuse for what I did.

  I fucked up, and it cost me the love of my life.

  The world spins around me and my vision blurs from the tears that are pooling in my eyes. Somehow, I make it down the stairs and onto the porch. Lisa is sitting on the bench, holding one of the many decorative pillows Sierra set out. Her eyes are wet from crying.

  “Chase,” she starts and stands. “I didn’t know.”

  I turn to her, unable to hide the incredible pain on my face.

  “No,” she says and starts crying. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s too late,” I croak out and turn away. I get into my car and lose the battle against my emotions. I pull out of the driveway and speed down the private road, not stopping until I’m in the parking lot of The Mill House.

  I get out and look at the familiar brick building. The sound of the river, once calming, sounds foreign.

  This place is no longer home.

  Chapter 31

  Sierra

  I flip open the pocketknife and look at the blade. It’s dull from use over the years but still gets the job done. I bring my finger to the tip, feeling the sharpness of the metal. I press it into my skin, welcoming the pain.

  My head drops and I close my eyes. Tears rain down on the box in front of me. It’s Monday morning, and I’m alone at The Book Bag. A big shipment of signed books just arrived, and I should be ecstatic.

  I cannot stop crying.

  I miss Chase.

  I miss his arms around me. I miss the way he made me laugh. I miss how safe I felt with him snuggled up next to me at night.

  I miss the way I trusted him.

  I miss the lie he led me to believe.

  I just miss him.

  My body shudders from a sob, and the dull blade slices into my skin. Warm blood pools on the tip of my finger, dripping down onto my hand. I watch it, knowing I should get up and wash the cut, yet I’m unable to move.

  My phone rings again, for the tenth time this morning. Chase keeps calling, and I haven’t answered. He leaves a message every time he calls, and I don’t know if he’s trying to be ironic or not. I haven’t listened to a single message. It’s like the rug’s been pulled from beneath my feet, and the man I thought I knew and loved is a different person. The betrayal runs deep, and it’s not something I can look past. Not yet at least.

  Everyone warned me about him.

  They said he was dangerous.

  I guess they were right.

  My finger starts to throb. I set the knife on top of the box and get up, going through the store to the backroom. I wash out the cut, watching the water push the flap of skin back. I’m too numb inside to react. I wait until the water running off my hand goes from red to clear, and then I bandage my finger up and go back to the storefront and open the box. Burying myself in work is what got me through the aftermath of losing Jake. As long as I have the store, I can keep my mind busy enough to get by.

  Maybe.

  Doubtfully.

  Because it feels like everything inside of me is dead. It won’t take long before it starts to fester and rot away.

  I take a stack of Scarlett Levine’s latest book and start putting them away on the shelf when someone comes into the store.

  “Sierra?” Lisa calls. “I brought you coffee.” She comes around the aisle and extends a to-go cup.

  “You can put it on the counter,” I answer flatly.

  “Okay.” She sets it down and picks up my phone. “Chase is calling you.”

  “Yeah,” I say and move books around and feel Lisa’s eyes on me. She came in after Chase left yesterday and told me about their talk. How he said he’d come clean but wanted to wait. How sorry she was because she had no idea I’d gotten pregnant…and then lost it.

  “Are you not talking to him?”

  “No.”

  “Maybe you should. You should deal with the loss together.”

  Something inside of me snaps. “Stop telling me what I should do.”

  “I just think—”

  “Stop!” I throw my hands up. “Just go.”

  “Sierra, please. I’m so sorry.”

  “You should be!” I spit. “What Chase did was wrong and I’d feel the same no matter when he told me, but he asked you to wait because he knew what I was already going through. You were so hellbent on making him be the bad guy you didn’t listen. You didn’t care about anyone other than yourself.”

  “That’s not true.” She shakes her head back and forth. “I was worried about you. I didn’t want you to get hurt and that’s exactly what he did.”

  “But I didn’t need to know right now!”

  “Then when? You had to know, Sierra.”

  “Did I?” I ask as the tears start to fall. I wrestled with this all night, wishing that I didn’t know the truth and could have fallen asleep in Chase’s arms once again. Painful cramps kept me up all night, and the hurt ran so deep I wasn’t sure if I would make it through the night.

  I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

  “If I could take it back, I would. Please, Sierra,” Lisa cries. “I’m so sorry.”

  “You can’t take it back,” I say slowly and turn, going back to my box of books. My entire body hurts from how much I wish things could go back. The man that I love kept a detrimental secret from me. My best friend was so blinded by hate she hurt everyone in her path.

  “Chase is hurting too,” Lisa reminds me as if I forgot. “And I know he feels bad. I really think you should talk to him. What happened, happened to both of you.”

  “So now you’re Team Chase?” I bring another stack of books out of the box and whirl around, glaring at Lisa.

  “No, well, yes. I…I just—”

  “You want to make yourself feel better,” I snap. “But it’s too late for that.”

  “I want you to feel better! I didn’t know. I was wrong. I should have listened to Chase when he told me to wait. I should have trusted that he would really tell you. It’s so much at once, and I’m worried about you, Sierra.”

  I close my eyes, trying to stop more tears from forming. I believe that Chase loves me. I know he regrets keeping the messages once he knew they were mine. If he listened to them all before he knew me, would it have been different?

  If I got a phone with messages still on it, I’d listen too.

  Should I answer the next time he calls? I miss him. I need him. Yet I feel so betrayed. I look at Lisa and another wave of heartache comes over. These are things we’d have a heart-to-heart about.

  It’s like she betrayed me too.

  And it’s too much. I don’t know how much longer my heart can take this pain before it gives out.

  “Don’t you have to be at work?” I ask her with no emotion in my voice.

  Her bottom lip quivers and she cries as she turns to leave. As soon as she’s out the door, I break down sobbing. I’m crying so hard I don’t hear the bell ring as the door opens, or hear someone come into the store. A heavy hand lands on my back, and for a split second, I think it’s Chase.

  My heart flutters and I feel relief. I need him. I turn and see Wyatt.

  “Sierra?” he asks. “What’s wrong?”

  “Oh,” I say and sniffle. I close my eyes and turn away, using my T-shirt to dry my face. “Sorry. I didn’t hear you come in.”

  “Are you okay?”

  I force a smile. “I will be.” I try to compose myself and fail. Wyatt takes me in his arms, which only makes me miss Chase even more. It’s a strange, painful feeling. When Jake died, I longed to hug him one more time.

  But I couldn’t.

 
I wish so badly to feel Chase’s embrace. He can wrap his arms around me.

  But he shouldn’t.

  I suck in a sob and take in a steadying breath. Wyatt holds me tight and I have to push to break away. “Thanks. I’m okay. I, uh, I was reading a really sad book.”

  Wyatt looks at me unblinking. Then he smiles. “Wow. I wish I could get into books that much.”

  “Yeah, they’re powerful. Can I help you with something?” I walk past him to the counter, getting a tissue and the coffee Lisa brought.

  “My grandma wants more books by the same author.”

  “Sure. What’s the author’s name?”

  “I don’t remember. It was that book you recommended for her birthday.”

  “Ah. I remember now.” I blow my nose and take a sip of coffee and cross the store, picking up a book from the box. “This just came in this morning. And this one is signed.”

  “Great. You’re making me the most popular grandkid, you know.”

  I fake a laugh and ring Wyatt up. He looks down at my phone when a text comes through. “Someone misses you,” he teases, seeing the missed calls and texts from Chase. My heart aches.

  “Yeah. He does.”

  “Ah, Sierra, dear,” Mrs. Williams says, shuffling into the store. She uses a cane when she walks now, and her bad hip seems to be getting worse and worse. I’m just about to close down for the day and wasn’t expecting to see her.

  “Hi, Mrs. Williams. What are you doing here?”

  She smiles, brown eyes gentle. “We need to talk, honey.”

  “That’s never good.”

  “You’re not being fired,” she goes on with another smile. “But I am putting the store up for sale.”

  My mouth opens and it takes a second before the words come out. “You are?”

  “It’s time for me to retire, dear. I’ve been trying to convince JJ for a while to take over the family business, but he wants to follow in his father’s footsteps instead and reopen the garage. I’m going to use the money I get from the building for this new business venture.” She lifts her gaze. “Nothing would have made him happier than seeing that car shop open again.”