She dove at me.
I caught her and staggered back a few feet before I regained my balance.
She hugged me like I’ve never been hugged in my life. It was like she was collapsing at the end of a finish line.
“Thank you,” she sobbed. “Thank you thank you thank you.” “I…it’s okay,” I said. “I wanted to.”
She wept into my neck, and my instinct was to wrap her in my arms and comfort her, even though I knew these weren’t sad tears. And when I folded them around her, she clutched me tighter and everything I was going to do, the organ donation, the surgery, the recovery, was worth it for this one moment alone.
I’d thought that any show of gratitude would make me uncomfortable. But for some reason I didn’t mind it now that it was happening, and I think it was because it was happening with her.
I liked her.
And I liked making her happy and I liked seeing her this way and I liked
this hug.
It occurred to me that I hadn’t been hugged—really, really hugged— since Amy. And even then, I couldn’t remember the last time we’d held each other in any way that felt like this. She’d been so frustrated with me and I’d felt so distant from her, the intimacy had ended long before the relationship did.
I’d been deprived of this basic human contact and now that I had it again, I realized how much I needed it. As I breathed out, Briana filled in the space and I just felt…still. Calm. Grounded.
“I wasn’t even nice to you,” she whispered into my neck. “You’re nice to me,” I said quietly.
She pulled away and peered up at me with wet eyes, her chin quivering. “Jacob, how can I ever thank you for this? There are no words.”
I dug in my pocket and handed her a tissue from the pack I always carried.
She took it and dabbed under her lashes. “Thank you.” She was calming down a little. Catching her breath.
I studied her while she regained her composure. So beautiful. Even crying, she was beautiful. I felt like I should look away from her, but I didn’t even know how. I still felt the hug, even though it was over, and it disabled something inside of me again, just the way she did that first day in Benny’s hospital room. I was rendered frozen and speechless and completely at her mercy, and I had to wonder with a touch of awe and amusement if she had bewitched me. If I was under some spell. Because I’d never felt like this before, this compelled to do something for someone I just met, this drawn to anyone.
Maybe she’d started that coven after all.
She sniffled and looked up at me. “Jacob, you have changed his whole life. Like, I know you know, but you don’t know. My brother is alive again. He’s him again.”
I gave her a soft smile. “Good.” Then I tilted my head. “How did you find out?” I asked.
She wiped under her eyes. “Gibson. I think he slipped.” I nodded. “Ah.”
I guess that was a fair mistake. He didn’t know I was donating anonymously. I hadn’t even seen him yet today.
We’d managed to keep this under wraps for an entire twelve hours. “I would really appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone else,” I said.
She shook her head. “I won’t. I promise you I won’t. Are you mad at him for telling me?”
I slipped my hands into my pockets. “No. It was an honest mistake.”
“You should text him and tell him. He’s probably freaking out.” She sniffed.
I nodded. “Okay.”
She gazed into my eyes. “Do you know what today is, Jacob?” she asked, peering up at me. “It’s the day my divorce is final. I don’t know if you knew that, that I was married?”
“You had a wedding ring in some of your pictures.”
She nodded, looking down at the tissue in her hands. “I didn’t think that there was anything that could have made today okay.” Her eyes came back up to mine. “But then this happened.” She smiled up at me, blinking through tears. “This is one of the best days of my life, on one of the worst days of my life. And all I’m going to remember when I think about it is you and what you’ve done. Thank you so much.” She choked on the last word.
I didn’t know what to say. So I didn’t say anything at all.
Silence was always my default response. Sometimes things are easier to understand when unsaid. Sometimes words complicate things and make them murky. This moment didn’t need them.
We just stood there. Me with my hands in my pockets and her dabbing at her eyes, gratitude coming off her in waves.
For so long I’d wanted this kind of admiration from Amy—and even this wasn’t really real. Briana was just grateful and excited, and it would wear
off. But it felt good anyway.
My phone chirped in the silence.
I cleared my throat. “That might be Gibson. I should probably check it.”
I pulled out my cell and sighed looking at it. A missed call from Briana that I hadn’t heard and five texts from Mom. She was asking about tonight.
I must have been making a face, because Briana said something. “Everything okay?”
I dragged a hand down my mouth. “No. It’s just that family thing I was going to tell you about.”
“What? What is it? Anything I can help with?” I barked out a laugh. The irony.
“What?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Nothing.” “No, what?”
I tipped my head back and stared at the ceiling. “This actually is something you could help me with. But there’s no way I’m asking you.”
“Uh, the hell you aren’t,” she said. “Like, I don’t want to be dramatic, but I would literally die for you right now. What do you need?”
I looked back at her. “I can’t. It’s too ridiculous to entertain.”
“Try me. Entertaining ridiculous is my specialty. I’m really good at it.”
I laughed a little. Then I let out a breath. “I need a girlfriend for a few months.”
She stared at me.
I put up a hand. “Not like that. To come with me to some wedding stuff. I need my family to think I’m in a relationship. My brother is getting married. To my ex-girlfriend.”
She gave me a weird look. “To your…ex-girlfriend.”
“We dated for a little over two and a half years. Broke up last year. They started dating three months later and got engaged a few weeks ago. The wedding’s in July. I need them to think I’ve moved on.”
“Why?”
I looked away from her a moment, trying to figure out how to explain it.
When I came back to her, I held her gaze.
“Leaving me, choosing him was not easy for her. My sisters didn’t speak to them for six months, and my parents almost disowned him. It tore my entire family apart for the better part of a year. They’re all going to look to me to decide how to act. If I’m upset, they’ll be upset, and I’m already doing everything in my power to hide my feelings. They need to think I’m happy and moved on. If I’m alone, they’ll spend the next three months waiting for a crack in my façade to decide to hate them both. It will take away from her happiness. And I don’t want that.”
She looked at me incredulously. “She waited three whole months to start dating your brother and you want her to be happy?”
“I love her,” I said. “Of course I want her to be happy.”
Something in her expression went soft. “Well, you are a much nicer person than I am, Jacob Maddox. When people go low on me, I go lower.”
I laughed despite myself.
“So you’re not over her, then,” she said. It wasn’t a question, it was a statement.
I paused. It was complicated and, to be honest, even I wasn’t entirely sure of the answer.
My feelings were muddied by too many things. The incomplete way it ended, the rejection I felt, the betrayal of her dating someone else so quickly and that man being Jeremiah. But for the sake of simplifying, I said, “No. I am not.”
She pursed her lips and nodded. “Okay. So you think they’ll buy it? Us dating?” she asked.
“They already do. When my sister saw us in the supply closet, she assumed. I didn’t correct her. I sort of panicked. I’m sorry.”
She crossed her arms. “So what exactly would I need to do?”
“Meet my family. Come with me to monthly dinners at their house. Then the engagement party, rehearsal dinner, wedding. That’s it.”
“I’m in.”
I blinked at her. “I…you are?”
“Totally. And it’s not even the kidney thing. I would have done it anyway.”
I pulled my face back. “You would? Why?”
“I would have given an eye to have a date to my best friend Alexis’s wedding last year. Some rando named Doug followed me around the whole time with a guitar. He sang me ‘More Than Words’ by Extreme. Twice. I seriously debated faking my own death just so it would end sooner. Nobody should ever be forced to go to a wedding alone.”
She drew a smile out of me, but then I went serious again. “Are you sure?” I asked.
“Very sure.”
I peered at her. “Thank you,” I said. “This takes so much stress off of me.”
“Good. We gotta take care of that kidney.” I made an amused sound and she grinned. “So when’s the first thing?” she asked. “Tonight.”
She blanched. “Tonight?!”
“It’s family dinner night. Jeremiah and Amy won’t be there. They’re invited, but it’s her dad’s birthday. It’s the only event where you won’t have to meet my family and my ex at the same time. We can wait until the engagement party if you want, but it might be a lot, meeting everyone at once.”
She pursed her lips, thinking, then nodded. “Okay. I can do tonight. Are you picking me up?”
“I’ll pick you up.”
She took a step closer and looked at me. “Jacob, I am going to be the best girlfriend you’ve never had.”
