"h.e.l.lo?"

Honor quickly turned her head at the sound of a female voice coming from the open doorway of the store. She jumped to her feet, almost knocking over her chair. "Mary?"

The older woman smiled. "Surprise."

"Oh my gosh." Honor rushed into the woman's open arms. They held each other for a long time. Long enough for Bryce to feel like an intruder.

"I've missed you," Mary said, pulling back. She regarded Honor with big brown eyes filled with motherly love.

Bryce sucked in a breath. He'd never met Mary, but staring at her face he knew who she was. Over Honor's shoulder, her gaze connected with his.

Honor twisted around and when their eyes met, pain spoiled the blue he'd come to adore. Tension so thick filled the s.p.a.ce between them, the only way to end it would be to leave. Suddenly, he'd give anything to have an ocean between them.

"I should head out," he said.

"Okay. But uh, before you go, I'd like you to meet Payton's mom, Mary. Mary, this is... this is my friend Bryce." Mary looked between them. Honor never broke eye contact with him. "Payton's Bryce."

His gut clenched. Did she still think that? After everything that had happened between them? "It's nice to meet you," he said.

"Likewise." Mary shook his outstretched hand, her expression warm, but also sympathetic.

He had to get out of there before he suffocated. Honor's loyalty would always lay with her best friend, and where that left him he didn't know. But he certainly didn't want anyone's pity.

"Have a nice visit," he said before he forced a smile and walked out of the store without a glance back.

Honor watched Bryce leave and guilt chewed up her insides all over again. She wasn't sure what she'd done wrong, but hurt had been written all over his face and she hated herself for putting it there. That's what you do, you bring pain.

"That was him, huh?" Mary said.

"Yes."

"There's something going-"

"Yes."

"Want to talk about it?"

"No."

Mary took her hand and led her to the window seat. "It's okay, you know." Honor kept her eyes on their entwined hands. It wasn't okay. None of this was okay. "Sometimes what's meant to be happens from loss."

Honor lifted her head. "You really think so?"

"I do. And I'll tell you why. This store for one." Mary scanned the s.p.a.ce. "It's coming along beautifully."

"Thanks. I've named it Driftwood."

"That's a fabulous name. I remember you and Payton making huts with it when you were little."

"Uh-huh."

"She's looking down on you, you know. With a smile and appreciation for keeping her in your thoughts."

"I think about her every day," Honor said softly. "How have you been?"

"Every day gets easier." Mary glanced down, gave Honor's hand a squeeze and then let go. "You got the tattoo."

Honor rubbed her finger across the ink. The way Mary said, the tattoo, raised goose b.u.mps on Honor's skin. "Yes?"

Mary chuckled. "You always wanted one. You don't remember? It was Ally's Sweet Sixteen, I think, and you and Payton got Henna tattoos. Pay hated hers, but you loved yours and told your mother that you were going to get a real tattoo before you turned twenty-five."

A rush of memories flooded Honor. She'd forgotten all about that. "And Mom said she'd go with me if I was worried about the needle." She thought about Bryce and how he'd been there for her with his supportive touch and playful word game.

"I guess you did okay."

More than okay. Honor gave a small nod.

"Have you crossed everything off your list?"

Honor froze. "What?"

Mary took a deep breath. "I'm here to make a confession. The list Payton wrote was for you."

"I don't understand." Honor stood and wrapped her arms around herself. Mary knew about the list?

"I don't know everything Pay put on it because she wanted to keep some things private, but the list wasn't about her like she told you. She made me promise to come see you before your birthday and tell you that."

The temperature in the room shot up a hundred degrees, and quite possibly the walls were actually closing in. "What are you saying?"

Mary got to her feet. "Payton was dying and she wanted you to live, Honor. She'd watched you close yourself off since breaking up with Lance and she hoped this would be a way for you to reclaim some of your old self. She wanted you to rediscover you could see things through. You've always deserved success, Honor, you just wouldn't let yourself believe it."

Mary put her hand on Honor's arm. "And she knew you wouldn't do it for yourself. But that you'd do it for her. So she fibbed a little."

Honor stumbled back, her head a ma.s.sive jumble of emotions. "She lied to me?"

"Because she loved you."

That was true. And she knew Honor better than she knew herself. Maybe it took a lie to make a person find what they were capable of. Honor did feel more accomplished since crossing things off Pay's list. A mixture of relief and courage ran through Honor's veins.

This was all on her now and it felt strangely... good.

Chapter Twelve.

Honor got home Wednesday night and collapsed onto her couch. She'd worked nonstop the past five days, spending all day locked away at the mayor's office and then her off-hours at Driftwood. Decorating and furnishing the store was the easy and fun part. But things like licenses and insurance and something called a DBA were beyond her scope of understanding. So when Danny had stopped in earlier today, she hadn't questioned what he was doing there. She just asked for help and he gave it.

She let out a deep, satisfied breath. Payton would be proud of her.

The doorbell rang, but unwilling to move from her comfy spot, she didn't budge. "Come in," she called out.

"It's not too early for the Boogeyman, you know."

Honor jolted up at the sound of Bryce's voice. They hadn't spoken since he'd left Driftwood the day Mary visited and by the ill humor in his voice, he wasn't exactly happy to see her now. "Umm..."

"Are you home alone?"

"Yes." Was that good? Bad? Was he supposed to meet up with Cooper?

"Then you really should keep your door locked." His unfriendly tone irked her.

"And ruin visits from the Boogeyman?" she teased, because he might be in a bad mood, but she wasn't.

He shook his head and took the spot next to her on the couch. "Danny and I had dinner with Zane and afterwards, I somehow ended up here. Weird, huh?" Finally, like he couldn't fight it anymore, the corners of his mouth lifted. The slight crack of a s.e.xy mischievous smile combined with that chin and those cheeks and those eyes, turned her to mush.

"Very." She scooted closer, took his arm and put it around her. Now she wasn't just mush. She was mushy mush. He smelled super good.

"You're like a homing device whenever I get within a certain range."

She laughed. "So long as you don't start calling me Pigeon, we're good. Hey," she picked up his hand. "I see you got your st.i.tches removed. I'm glad you remembered to do that."

"The nurse said you did good."

She looked up at him. "I'm, uh, also glad you stopped by. Is everything okay?" His clothes were a little more rumpled than normal, his hair not as neat as usual.

"Yeah. Just some stuff going on with work."

"Is that it?" She'd replayed the last words they'd spoken over and over again and kept thinking somehow she'd messed up. You called him Payton's Bryce.

"I have to tell you something," she rushed out before he could answer. She brought her knee up and turned to face him. Even weary and wrinkled he looked s.e.xy. Her stomach fluttered. "Two things actually. First, I'm sorry if I hurt you when I introduced you to Mary. That wasn't my intention."

"I haven't been Payton's for a long time, Honor, and honestly, looking back, I never really was."

Honor nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat. "And second, Payton's list was meant for me."

He sat taller, his eyes twinkled, like she'd just given him a gift. "Go on."

She did. She told him everything about her conversation with Mary. He listened, asked a few questions, and said he appreciated her apology.

"So whatever happens now is what you want to happen."

"Yes." She liked being back in control.

"How does that feel?" He laid his arm across the top of the couch and played with a strand of hair at her shoulder.

"Good."

"And you and me?" He inched closer, the sparkle in his eyes telling her he knew full well what his nearness did to her.

"I think there will always be some small pang of guilt over Payton, but I don't think she'd want us to shy away from each other because of it."

"I agree. So we're still on for Sat.u.r.day?"

"I hope so."

"Absolutely." He inched closer still. "Unfortunately, I've got to meet with a client in the afternoon, which means I won't have enough time to come pick you up before the dinner. Would you mind catching a ride with Zane and Sophie and meeting me there?"

"Not at all."

"You could stay at my place after."

"I'd like that." She'd missed him. Plain and simple.

He leaned over and kissed her. It started too tentative for her liking so she palmed the back of his head and deepened the kiss. His tongue played with hers while he shifted them with an arm around her waist until she was on her back and he was on top of her. She loved the way he kissed her, like she was essential to his well being.

It was becoming more and more clear that he was essential to hers.

The very loud and very inconvenient growl of her stomach broke them apart. He gazed down at her. "When was the last time you ate?"

She scrunched up her nose. "This morning. I've been busy."

"Come on." He pulled her to feet and led her to the kitchen. "I'll make you my famous bowl of cereal. Sit."

Honor watched him grab a bowl and spoon and put it down on the table in front of her. He opened the cupboard next and contemplated the selection before picking Cocoa Krispies. Her favorite. He poured the cereal into her bowl then grabbed the milk out of the fridge. "What makes this famous, you ask? The perfect amount of milk-added to give the perfect ratio of cereal to milk so there is nothing but an empty bowl when you're finished."

Honor dug right in as Bryce took the chair next to her. "Friday night Zane and Sophie wanted to know if we'd like to go out to dinner with them," he said.

"A double date?" she asked with her mouth full.

"I think you said double date and not bubble gate so I'm going to say yes."

She almost spewed her food at him. He said the best things. "I guess that's okay," she said around the next bite.

Bryce put his chin in his hand and stared at her with a dreamy look.

"Stop."

"Spop?"

Who knew she could smile and chew at the same time? And several happy bites later she discovered Bryce did indeed have magical cereal powers. She dropped her spoon with a clink into the empty bowl.

"Can you do it again?" She never ate just one bowl of cereal. Sometimes she even ate three, not that she would tonight in front of Bryce.