Page 52 of The Comeback Road (Leaving #2)

Lexie

Despite the chill in the air, sunlight streamed through my window in warm, golden rays.

It felt like the world was still celebrating the holiday, and for the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel the crushing weight of my choices pressing down on me.

Stretching, I couldn’t help the flutter in my stomach at the thought of Jace and the fact that there was a good chance he was still asleep on the sofa.

I wanted to sip my coffee on my swing despite the cold, and I found myself throwing on a comfy robe and padding down the stairs at the thought.

The scent of something delicious wafted through the air as I opened my door, further coaxing me out of my room, and my stomach started to growl in anticipation.

Just as I was about to reach the bottom floor, I was greeted by the sight of Jace standing in the kitchen, his back turned to me as he flipped something in a pan. There was a casual confidence in his movements that had me gravitating to him and sitting down as I just watched him.

“Good morning, Starlight,” he said, not even glancing over his shoulder. I found myself frowning. How did he know I was here? I hadn’t made a peep. “How did you know it was me?” I asked.

“I feel you when you’re near.” And his hand went to his chest to rub it.

But it didn’t seem intentional, just factual.

Jace barely gave me time to digest what was going on before he glanced over his shoulder with a grin that lit up the room like sunshine.

“I hope you’re hungry. I made pancakes,” Jace said as he flipped one and then moved to grab me a cup of coffee, making it perfectly before setting it in front of me.

“I didn’t know you could cook. I remember Sloan mentioned one time that you burned water…” I said cheekily.

“Who do you think has been cooking all those meals, Lex?” Sloan said as he entered the kitchen, “Can I have coffee too?” He pouted at Jace.

“Are your legs broken?” he asked him.

“Some best friend you are,” Sloan grumbled, and went over to pour himself a cup. But I was still stuck on what he just said. “Can we rewind? What do you mean, cooking the meals?”

I saw Jace elbow Sloan roughly in the ribs, shoot him a sideways glance of annoyance, and throw his words back at him. “Some best friend you are.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the exchange because it reminded me so much of mine and Magnolia’s friendship. “So, the meals?” I asked again, and Jace let out a long sigh.

“Magnolia said you weren’t eating.”

As simple as that. Jace had heard I wasn’t eating, and he had made it his mission to make sure I was fed.

There was a sudden clarity that washed over me.

Jace had been quietly taking care of me for weeks, quietly working on the house during the day, spending nights in his car, cooking all my meals.

He’d been putting my needs before anyone’s for weeks, even when I wasn’t ready to see it. How did I miss this?

Our gazes locked in on each other, and I felt the air bristle with electricity.

I was about to get up and make my way to him, but Sloan had to ruin the moment by speaking, “Uh…should I leave?” he asked.

And before we could answer or take our eyes off of each other, Magnolia came bounding into the kitchen in a flurry.

“Oh, good! You’re awake! I want to do something with you today,” she said.

“Me?” I asked.

“Yeah. That is, if it’s okay.”

“You finally going to show her?” Sloan asked as he handed her coffee.

“Show me what?” I wondered aloud.

“The Bar-kery.” Sloan smiled, and my heart skipped.

It was Magnolia’s dream project that she’d been working on for months, and I’d left before she could really get the ball rolling.

I had been so caught up in my own struggles that I completely forgot about it.

Completely forgot about the fact that life kept going, despite the fact that I had tried my best to put mine on pause.

I hated that I hadn’t been there for Magnolia, hadn’t been a part of her excitement or been around to celebrate milestones with her.

“I can’t believe I missed out on this already…Of course I want to go.”

Magnolia flung her arms around me. “Thank you. I can’t wait to share this with you.” She released me after a few seconds.

“When do you want to go?” I asked as I stabbed the pancakes that Jace had put in front of me, and took a bite.

“Oh my god, this is so good. Sloan, you’re such a liar.

Every meal has been so good.” And Sloan scoffed at me.

“Do you have any idea how many hours he’s spent watching YouTube tutorials?

Magnolia and I had to set ground rules when he would wake us up at 3 a.m. with a new pesto pasta that we just had to try . ”

“Don’t worry, that only happened twice. The second time, I saw things I’ll never be able to forget.

” He rubbed his eyes, and I just sat there, taking in the scene around me.

The easiness, the rightness of it all. There are times in life when you have such a moment of peace that you want to bottle up the feeling and save it for rainy days. That was one of those moments.

“Hours, huh?” I sat, looking at Jace in wonderment. No one had ever done anything like that for me before, and I felt like I was going to burst at the seams.

“Maybe we should go now before Jace goes all caveman and doesn’t let you leave, hm?” Magnolia tapped my arm, breaking me from the trance we were in.

“Sure, let’s go.”