One in a Million (Book 3 in the Four of Us Trilogy)

20 | Broken Promises

There's a whole lot of singing that's never gonna be heard

Disappearing every day without so much as a word somehow

Think I broke the wings off that little songbird

She's never gonna fly to the top of the world right now.

-Dixie Chicks, "Top of the World" 

Two Weeks Later

Tallahassee, Florida

Jessica

Rachel hadn't stopped for what seemed like days, getting ready for Miles' return home for the holidays. It's pretty adorable, but I was actually starting to get worried about her.

"Rach, don't you think you should take a break?" I asked gently as she vacuumed the floors for the third time in two days.

She shut the vacuum off and stared at me. "No, Jess! Everything has to be perfect when he gets here!" she exclaimed, blowing the hair off her forehead in exasperation.

I took her hands and pulled her to the couch. "Step away from the vacuum, Ms. Cross." She tried to protest, but I shook my head. "All Miles is going to care about when he steps over this threshold is you. He isn't going to give two shits about the carpet or the bathrooms or the windows. All he will see is you."

She leaned back against the couch and nodded. "Ugh, Jess, why are you always right?"

I shrugged. "It's a gift. Now, go take a shower and get ready. You're coming out with me and Parker tonight."

"Where?" she asked.

"We were just going to go to the movies and then grab a bite to eat," I said.

"You want me to be third wheel? No thank you," she responded, shaking her head.

"Third wheel? Come on, Rach," I countered, rolling my eyes. "You hang out with us all the time."

"Yeah, here at the apartment where I don't look like a loser," she said.

"Call your friend Brittany and get her to come," I suggested.

She shook her head. "Nah, she'll want to invite Alex and then I'll be fifth wheel!"

I laughed. "Does she still like him?" I leaned on the arm of the couch and stretched my legs across Rachel's lap.

She shook her head. "Nah... that ended the night of the epic pool disaster. But still."

I nudged her thigh with my foot as I started to stand up. "Call her. Or don't. You're coming with us either way."

She looked at me warily and then finally held up her hands. "Fine. Fine. I'll call her."

I grinned.

Rachel

Brittany surprised me and actually didn't invite Alex. I guess she didn't want a potential repeat of what happened last time, even though I thought Alex surely wasn't dumb enough to try that again.

When we got to the restaurant after the movie, Parker asked me if I had heard from Miles regarding his assignment after training.

I shook my head and took a sip of my sweet tea. "He hasn't gotten to talk much at all during this part of training, which is funny... because after graduation, I heard Dale telling Noah that he'd have more freedom to text during specialized training because it wasn't as intense." I shrugged. "I guess it was more intense than they thought."