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And as he lay on top of her with his forehead on her shoulder and his breath hot and fast against her skin, Leah closed her eyes and trailed her fingertips along the vale of his spine.
“Always,” she said again, because in that moment, she knew she would spend the rest of her life loving him.
No matter where he was.
“Stop staring at me. You’re making me nervous.”
Jake and Tommy laughed as Da
“Yes she can,” Jake said. “If she strips the drain plug, that shit’s go
“See?” Leah said, gesturing at Jake.
“Ignore him,” Da
“What the fuck?” Jake said. “If she strips the plug, I’ll just get a new plug. Why the hell would I have to replace the entire pan?”
“Because you’re a dick, and I said so,” Da
She pressed her lips together, fighting a smile as Da
Leah exhaled heavily before she turned to face the open hood. “Let’s do it.”
Da
Leah chewed the corner of her lip, and Da
And if it hadn’t been for Tommy and Jake, he would have.
She scrunched her nose before she asked, “Remove the oil filter cap?”
Da
“Okay,” Jake said, leaning on the other side of the hood with his hands. “The easy part’s over. Time to get on your back.”
Before Da
Tommy did a spit-take before he started choking on his soda as Da
“The force is strong with this one,” he said to Da
Da
“As I’ll ever be,” she said, turning to sit on the creeper.
He leaned down and handed her a pair of latex gloves, and she took them from him and put them on before snapping them at her wrist. “I feel very official,” she said, holding out her hand. “Socket wrench.”
“Socket wrench,” Tommy said with a salute before handing it off to her, and she lay back on the creeper and used her feet to propel herself underneath the car.
“You got the pan set up where I showed you?” Da
“Yep. So I just remove this plug, right?”
“Right. Once you get it off, it’s go
“That’s what she said,” Jake said from the other side of the car, and Da
“Come on, Da
After a minute he heard a muffled shriek, followed by the sound of oil hitting the pan.
“Oh my God, so gross,” she whimpered, and Da
“Nice job! You did it.”
Her oil-covered hand came out from underneath the side of the car. “I need the rag to clean the plug.”
Tommy reached down and handed it to her before he lifted his eyes to Da
“Agreed,” Jake said.
He would have told them both to shut the fuck up—if he hadn’t been thinking the exact same thing.
Da
She was the only reason he was okay. The only thing in the past three weeks that could make him smile.
That could make him forget.
The week after Bryan’s death had been unbearable. Da
But enjoying himself in any capacity right after losing Bryan felt wrong. It felt callous and cold and disrespectful of his memory.
So he spent the week existing in a self-imposed vacuum; he got up, went to work, ate meals, and carried on conversations as if he were programmed to do it.
It was rote, and robotic, and forced, and empty.
The entire time, Leah was there—giving him space when he wanted it and support when he required it. He didn’t even have to vocalize what he wanted; it was like she could read his needs before he could, like she was always two steps ahead of him.
Da
He hated that she had to experience everything alongside him, but he didn’t know how to move on. He was stuck in some horrible catch twenty-two, torn between his veneration for his best friend and his promise to the woman he loved.
The weekend after they took Bryan off life support, he and Leah had been lying in bed, and out of nowhere she asked him to tell her something he’d always wanted to do. They spent the next hour talking about it, ru
They talked until Leah had filled both columns to the bottom of the page, and after she had placed the pad on the nightstand and lay back down beside him, she told him she wanted to accomplish as many of her “Right Now” items as she could in the next few weeks.
And then she asked if he would help her do it.
He knew what she was doing; if he was helping her, it was an excuse to exist in the world again, to enjoy his time with her without feeling guilty.
She was absolving him of any culpability for moving on.
She had one of the most beautiful souls of anyone he’d ever known, and Da
The following weekend Da
And then they went to the reflexology room.
Da
Before they left the spa, Da