It was the last time I’d be doing this as well.
Chapter 21
—Leo—
Why is she leaving?
The question repeated itself in my mind for pretty much the entire day. Anytime she smiled, laughed, looked at me for more than a few seconds, I could see it in her eyes. She didn’t want to leave.
What do I do?
We had been friends our whole lives. There wasn’t anything I couldn’t talk to her about. Come to her for. We respected each other’s opinions, yet she still hadn’t asked me what I thought about her moving. Maybe she didn’t have to, maybe she knew deep down all I wanted was for her to be happy. Even if it meant she had to move across the world to make it happen.
Mila loved Tennessee. Her heart was in the south. She was a country girl, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think she’d come running home. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. Something I told myself to help me let her go.
When did things change? When did they become so confusing?
By the time she was walking down the stairs, I drank about a quarter of the whiskey bottle. Feeling…
Not a fucking clue.
Too much.
Too little.
I’d never been this torn in two. My emotions were getting the best of me as I watched her walk down the stairs, the soft warmth of the lights illuminating her face. She was glowing, wearing one of my hoodies which looked more like a dress on her. Anytime she’d wear something of mine, whether it be clothes, a hat, socks, it didn’t matter; a sense of home washed over me.
I never told her the lights I put up around the cabin were for her. Mila loved Christmas. Ever since she was a kid, she always looked forward to everything about the holiday. Spending time with family, friends, loved ones…
Especially, the lights.
Having it look like Christmas year-round at my cabin was just one of the things I found myself doing only for her over the years. It came naturally, wanting to see her smile.
But that’s what friends are for, right? Keep decorations up to see the people they love happy?
I couldn’t count the things Mila had done for me over the years we’d been friends. Covering for me with my parents, tagging along to parties she didn’t want to go to because I wanted her there, getting me out of trouble when girls got a little too clingy.
She was there, always there.
I think that was why her leaving was such a hard thing for me. Not that I didn’t trust the boys, but it was different with Mila. I knew she had my back and I had hers. I had never trusted myself with anyone the way I did with her. She got to see not only the best but also the worst parts of me. Not having her around was going to take some adjusting and quite frankly, I didn’t know if I’d lose my shit without her.
If the way I was feeling right now was any indication.
I. Was. Fucked.
Once she reached the bottom of the stairs, I told her, “Your drink is on your swing.”
She smiled. “You know you’re going to have to guard my swing now that I won’t be around to keep all the girls off it at your bonfires, right?”
“You think I should paint reserved only for Mila Lawrence on it in big, bold lettering?”
She grabbed her drink and sat down on the swing. “I’m hurt you haven’t already.”
“I’ll get right on that.”
“It should be the first thing you do as project manager at Mountainside Building. When do you start by the way?”
“Next week.”
“You nervous? Excited?”
“You know me, Mila, it’s hard to get me excited about much.”
“Facts. You’re a pain in the ass like that.”
“It comes with the mentality of being a realist.”
“Or a pessimist, but whatever.”
“You’re enough of an optimist for the both of us, Lala.”
“Some people call me a magical unicorn.”
“You’re something all right.”
“You know what magical unicorns like?”
“I’m sure you’re gonna tell me.”
“S’mores.”
“Is that your way of telling me you want a s’more?”
“Whoa, you catch on mighty fast. You’re going to work your way up the company ladder really quick with skills like those, Leo.”
“Mila, are you trying to be a smart ass right now? Because I hate to be the one to say this, but you’re only one of those things.”
“I’m never going to live today down, am I?”
“It’s too soon to tell. It just happened this afternoon.”
“On that note, it’s time for you to make me a s’more.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I threw a few more logs into the fire pit, making sure it was good to go.
“You make a good fire, Leo.”
I winked at her. “Me, Caveman, make good fire.”
After I grabbed two wooden sticks that I used to make s’mores with from the side of the cabin, I placed four marshmallows, two on each stick, and held them near the bottom of the pit where the flames weren’t as intense so they wouldn’t burn. I perfected the art of the s’more a long time ago and Mila always burnt hers. It didn’t matter how many times I told her to place her marshmallow under the flames. She got impatient and put it in the fire anyway.