Georgia climbed uninvited onto the exam table, the paper crinkling under her. She sat beside Leo and turned to pull him into her arms. “I’m sorry you’re upset. But what happened before was upsetting. I don’t think I ever realized how it affected you.”
Leo took a deep breath and let it out. “You’re the one who really suffered,” he said.
“That’s not true.” She shook her head. “My dad did, too. And you. But I didn’t have any room in my head to understand it at the time. I was too busy being angry.”
He clamped his arms around her and sighed. “I’m okay, Gigi. I swear.”
“You,” she said, kissing the place just under his ear, “are everything to me. I didn’t say so when I should have, so I hope it’s not too late to say so now.”
The warmth of her body against his was starting to calm him down. “I love you, baby. Don’t leave me.”
“I won’t.”
He stroked her hair. “You did six years ago, and I still don’t understand why.”
“I was panicked,” she said in a low voice. “I’d suddenly lost my faith in everything, all at once. And I thought you were just sticking with me because you felt guilty.”
“No—”
“Shh,” she chided. “I was so full of shame and so scared. I thought that would never go away. The funny thing is that graduation was only two months after it happened. When I was eighteen those two months seemed like a lifetime of waiting to feel better. But they weren’t. Just a few lousy weeks. I didn’t know, though. I didn’t understand that time heals.”
Leo had seen some evidence today that time doesn’t always get the job done. But even so, he understood. “I would have waited a hell of a lot longer.”
She sighed against him. “I didn’t trust it, because I didn’t remember how it felt to be happy. I didn’t believe I’d get that back.”
He pushed a strand of hair out of her face. “You make me happy, baby. Just you.” He kissed her on the forehead. “The rest we’ll figure out, okay?”
“Okay.”
There was a knock on the door.
Fuck. “Later,” Leo grunted, pawing at his eyes. There were no more tears, but the red-eyed evidence was surely still there.
The door opened anyway, admitting the stone-faced Coach Karl. Leo didn’t take his arms from around Georgia. He was done worrying about what her father thought of him.
“You weren’t supposed to leave,” Coach said slowly.
“What?” Leo asked. “Leave where?”
“Leave her!” Coach said with a snarl.
“Daddy!” Georgia complained. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Coach came all the way into the room and shut the door. He studied his daughter for a second. “You’re the one who wanted the air cleared,” her father grumbled. “So I’ll clear it.” He turned to face Leo. “I trusted you with my daughter, and I thought you were worth it. But on the worst night of her life, you told her it was over. My little girl freaks out, has a few too many, and gets caught by some sicko. Takes her years to recover, asshole. And now you’re just gonna waltz in and pick up where you left off? That takes balls.”
A stunned silence fell over the little room. Leo’s mind whirled as he tried to figure out what the hell Coach was talking about. “I never left her,” he said. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“The phone call,” her father growled. “That night—she talks to you on the phone. Then I call her and she goes off like a firework. ‘Leo upset me. I don’t want to talk. Call me tomorrow, I’m going out to a party.’ Next call I get is in the middle of the night, from the fucking hospital.”
“Daddy.” Georgia gasped. “Slow down. What are you talking about?”
“You were pissed!” he spat. “You said so yourself. At him.” He pointed an accusing finger at Leo.
“Wait a fricking minute. I do not like where this is going,” Georgia said in a voice Leo had never heard before. It was low and full of menace. “You paid thousands of dollars for therapy to convince me that the only person at fault was the rapist. So it’s really nice to hear now that you think Leo and I are also to blame.”
Jesus. Leo put a hand on Georgia’s lower back and began to rub slow circles. As if he could calm her down by osmosis. But he was still confused. “I don’t get it. We didn’t have any fights.” They didn’t, did they? So much had happened right after that random phone call on an April night, he couldn’t be a hundred percent sure. But if they’d fought, it had to be over something small. He’d remember.
Georgia turned to him with heavy eyes. “I was upset that night,” she whispered. “But that is not your fault. I never thought it was. I didn’t even remember until now.”
“But why?” he whispered back.
“You said you wanted to talk about next year,” she said. “We were going to different colleges and it was just inevitable that we’d have that conversation. But I was pissed off that you’d bring it up over the phone.”
Leo closed his eyes and tried to think. “I’d been sitting at home looking at airfares.” It was coming back to him now. “I’d figured out that it would be expensive for me to fly from Hartford to Charlottesville to visit you. But that it was pretty cheap to go from Newark. I wanted to talk about airfares.”
He opened his eyes just in time to see Georgia clap a hand over her mouth. And then her eyes filled with tears. Wordlessly, Leo hugged her. How did two healthy people produce as many tears as they did? By ducking all the important stuff, his conscience reminded him. Ah, well. Maybe they might finally get it right this time. “I love you,” he said to Georgia. “Always have.”
“I never blamed you,” she squeaked. “I swear. Even if I freaked out like an idiot, it was never on you.”
“It’s okay,” he said, tucking his chin onto her shoulder. “We’re here now. That’s all that matters.” He risked a look up at Coach, whose face was a stone. The man turned on his heel and left the room, closing the door behind him with a click.
They held each other for a while, until eventually Georgia spoke up. “You might get traded,” she said in a shaky voice. “I don’t know what’s in his head.”
“If it happens, we’ll deal with it. As long as you don’t trade me, Gigi, everything will be fine.”
“There isn’t a better player I’d want on my team.” She sniffled. “You’re the captain for life.”