All Chapters of Teach Me How to Love You: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Lory spent most of the flight going on about how excited she was, insisting Miami was about to become my favorite place on earth."When do we fly back?" I asked."Wednesday. Or Thursday. Depends how things go.""Stop joking around. We agreed on a weekend. Where's this Wednesday talk suddenly coming from?""Because if I'd said that upfront, you'd never have agreed to come." She shrugged, unbothered. "There's no way we're flying all the way just to spend two days there. That's a waste, Nora."I should have clocked it right then, the sheer number of bags she'd packed for a supposed weekend. I let it go instead, wrote it off as just Lory being Lory, extra as always.I tried bargaining. "We both have work, Lory."She waved that off. "Work can wait. I definitely will be throwing a party while we're down there. And knowing Alan, he'll follow through on that threat once we're back. So if this is my last trip for a while, I'm making the most of it.""You know I could just tell him you have per

The party was set for evening. Mario and Lory had me running around all afternoon helping get it ready. Drinks. Setup, decorations, whatever needed doing.Lory's a fun personality, that much is already established. But Mario, I had to admit, topped her. It was easy to see why they'd ended up friends. I laughed so hard at one point my stomach hurt.I told him I envied whoever his boyfriend was, there was no way life ever got dull around him."Single," he said, dramatic to the point of tragedy. "Sick to death of cheaters. Every single one of them."He dove straight into story after story about his exes, how each one had ended."Someone needs to turn your dating life into a TV show."He shared that the one that hurt the most was his last relationship. He'd been close to proposing. That's how sure he'd been.Only for a business associate to post pictures from a Switzerland trip. Mario's boyfriend showed up in one of them, some other man's mouth on his chin."What made it worse," his jaw c

I would cover my face. He'd pull it right back down, laughing. He was clearly in the mood to tease tonight."Let me sleep.""You wanted me here. I came. The least you can do is tell me why you asked.""You know I was drunk. That's on you, believing anything a drunk person says."I pulled the cover up again. He reached for it.I turned to face him. "I'll bite you if you touch that again.""You won't.""Try me."A mischievous smile crossed his face. "Where would you even bite me?""Your face."A low, throaty laugh escaped him. "Why my face? Jealous of it?"I bit back a smile threatening to give me away. "Who says you're good-looking?""You don't think I am?"Scoffing, I gave him a double look, not quite believing I was bantering with him like this. A boyish glint lighting up his whole face."You're not," I said, unconvincingly. "And don't touch the covers again," I warned, pulling them back over my face.He pulled them right back down, exactly as expected."You asked for it."I lunged f

Once we were outside, I looked at him. "That was a lie back there. The small-wedding thing.""I know.""Why say it, then?""Because the truth would've meant telling them about our agreement. And them looking at you differently."Something in me went soft and quiet at that, realizing his reasons for the lie were about protecting me."They're friends from when I was a teenager," he further explained. "Miami used to be home, back then.""That handshake," I teased, mostly to cover whatever was happening on my face. "Very elaborate."He just laughed it off.Back at the house, since Alan was here for real now, I figured I'd move my stuff into a different room and let him have his back. I was tossing my things into my suitcase in the closet when he walked in."What are you doing?""Packing." I nodded to my small pile of things. "Freeing up your space. Moving to the next room.""No need. I'm leaving tomorrow. I've got a meeting to catch. Just stay. We'll share it tonight."I nodded. "Okay.""

It was a nursery. Tastefully done, everything in muted shades of blue. The crib had a name worked into the wall above it. Kendrick.A closet took up one side, packed with designer baby clothes, some folded, some still tagged, next to a shelf of storybooks. Whoever put this room together had thought through every detail of it. It even smelled faintly like a baby.By the window was a nursing chair, and on the table beside it, a diary.I crossed to it and opened the first page.Hi Kendrick. It's Mom.I closed it immediately.It felt wrong, invasive, like I'd walked in on something sacred. Being there at all felt like a violation.I stepped back out and pulled the door shut.Turning to walk to my room, I flinched at the sight of Alan watching me.One look at his face had sweat lining my forehead. His jaw was clenched so hard it looked painful. His chest rising and falling fast."I'm sorry, I was just passing by and the door was open, I… I…"Even to my own ears, the words coming out of my