“I won’t,” she said, touching his chest because the furrow of his brows was getting deeper with every word he spoke and she didn’t want him to get worked up for no reason. “I’ll block him if I have to. I’ve already set most of my online stuff to private.” She shrugged.” I did after Leonardo told me he’d looked through all my photos and watched most of my videos several times before I’d even contacted him. It was kind of creepy to know any stranger could be watching them. But after yesterday”—she leaned her face against his chest and listened to the accelerated pace of his heart—“nothing would be worth going through that again.”

This was no time to start a debate, so she wouldn’t, but this was completely different from her relationship with Sydney. Even Sydney had warned her yesterday, when she told him that her final goodbye with Leo ended with him telling her not to be a stranger and drop him a line if she ever needed to talk, that doing so would be disastrous. Now Angel was leaving no doubt that it would be.

Angel winced, touching his temple with a frown, and at first, Sarah thought maybe he didn’t believe her. Then she realized he was wincing in pain. “You’re head still hurting bad?” He nodded, holding both hands at either temple. “You shouldn’t have gotten up so early.”

“I couldn’t sleep, not knowing we had to talk.”

“Well, we talked enough for now,” she said, pulling him by the hand toward the sofa, but he tugged back.

“Alex will be gone all day,” he said. “I think he’ll be okay with us using his bed as long as we clean up after.” She followed behind him, holding his hand. “And wash the sheets.”

“No way,” she gasped, tugging at his hand.

He turned to look at her as he continued walking into Alex’s room, and for the first time that day his dimples made an appearance. But it wasn’t for long because he instantly frowned as if smiling alone made his head hurt.

“We’ll just lie down for a while, but I really do need to release some of this pent-up stress.” He smiled as he lifted the comforter on Alex’s bed.

Sarah kicked off her shoes and slid in after him but didn’t lie down because a picture on a corkboard Alex had in his sparsely furnished bedroom caught her eye. He had only a few other things on the board, but this one was right smack in the middle. It was a photo of him and Valerie at the beach, and Valerie was wearing his letterman’s jacket. She still had it in her possession.

“Was that back in high school?”

Angel glanced at it with a squint. “Is that Valerie?”

Sarah tilted her head, giving him a scolding glare. “Yes, that’s her.”

Smirking, Angel made an exaggerated pained expression and pulled her down with him. “It’s this headache,” he said, kissing her softly. “I think it’s affecting my vision.”

Sarah rolled her eyes but wrapped her arms around him, glad that they were past the uncomfortable subject of Leonardo, but she still wanted to add one final thing in hopes that this could somehow hammer the lid shut on this subject for good.

“My dad’s dying,” she said, making Angel freeze and stare at her. “At least that’s what Leonardo told me. He said Joseph told him he has advanced staged prostate cancer and he doesn’t want it treated so he won’t be around for long.”

“I’m sorry,” Angel said, and she could tell he didn’t know how to else to respond to that.

“He’s the man who fathered me, Angel. That doesn’t make him my dad, and while I feel for anyone who’s sick, whether I know them or not, I’m not sad about this. For years I wasn’t even sure if he was still alive.” She shrugged. “Anyway, Leonardo thought it might be something I’d want to know. That maybe I’d want to try and meet him before he’s gone or even know when he passes so I could attend the services. Maybe then I could meet some of the other relatives. But I don’t want to. I don’t even have the slightest desire to meet him before he dies.”

“Are you sure?” Angel asked.

She nodded, tracing with her fingers over the necklace around his neck she’d given him so long ago. He so rarely ever took off. “After thinking about it all day yesterday, I decided I don’t need to go looking for relatives who’ve known about me since I was born and never once came looking for me. He did get out five years ago and apparently made no effort to come looking for me. Why would I want to meet a man who couldn’t care less about me either way? I have everyone I need in my life now, and I really do feel like the luckiest girl in the world.”

“Well, if you change your mind—”

“I won’t,” she said with a smile. “I was a fool to think I needed more.”

“I love you,” he whispered, kissing her hand. “Forever and always.”

“Forever and always,” she whispered back.

~*~

Angel

Since Angel’s gut had been right on the nose about Leo, he felt certain it was about Sydney as well, only this time he was determined to not let it come up and bite him in the ass when he least expected it. This time he’d be ready. He kept saying he’d have to have a man to man with him eventually, and now that they’d gotten past the whole nightmare of Sarah’s fake brother, Angel wanted his issues with her “like-a-brother” squared away as well.

After Sarah mentioned one time too many that she’d been up late talking to Syd about problems he was dealing with, with his ex and his new life in Los Angeles, Angel decided enough was enough. He could deal with knowing Sarah was being there for her good friend like she’d explained he’d so often been there for her—as long as he didn’t have to worry about there being other motives behind Sydney’s annoyingly frequent calls.