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God, this is going to be even worse when I see him.
“Let’s get this over with, Hadley.” Her response is clipped.
I lead the way to my door. She follows me inside and takes a seat on the couch, her posture tense. I grab two plastic cups from my kitchen and pour us each a healthy serving. Handing her one, I keep the other for myself and sit facing her on the couch. I tuck my leg under myself and take a generous sip before I look at her. Taking a deep breath in, I tell her everything I can. The look of frustration changes from anger to pity to sadness, and finally ends in relief. I don’t tell her what I needed to talk to Connor about first. I don’t want him to hear that from anyone else.
“I’m glad you’re okay, but you don’t know what Andy did to him, do you?” she asks.
My heart drops to my stomach.
“What do you mean?” I feel tears pricking at my eyes.
“He brought a gun to the office. He would have killed him had Liam not gotten there when he did.” Her voice is cold, the fear of losing her brother evident on her face.
“Oh. My. God. Alannah, I’m so sorry. I didn’t—” I rush out, but she holds her hand up to stop me.
“It’s not me that you need to talk to about this.”
I just nod in response. What else is there to say? We sit in silence for a few moments, each of us letting the weight of our revelations sink in. Eventually, we begin chatting about lessheavy topics. She tells me about Sean and the dinner they had with his boyfriend. It makes me so happy to see a teenager be so comfortable in sharing that with their family. The stories that Kat told me about when she came out to her parents were heartbreaking. We have a second cup of wine before she heads out.
I sit there with my own thoughts before I grab my phone and do what I should have done weeks ago.
Hadley:
Hey, can I see you?
I set my phone facedown, knowing that he’s likely in meetings still, and stand to take the cups to the sink. Before I even get back from the kitchen, I hear my phone notification ding. I walk faster than normal to get to it.
Connor:
I’ll come to you. Where are you?
I smile at his response and send my address.
Connor:
I’m leaving now. Give me ten minutes.
Hadley:
I’m not going anywhere. Don’t rush. I know it’s further than ten minutes from your office.
I get no response. I start pacing back and forth and decide to call Kat and Ryan. Knowing they’re going to lose their shit, I FaceTime them. Ryan picks up first, and after another few seconds Kat answers. I smile at the screen. I love these two so much.
“So, I did something,” I say.
Kat is the first to speak. “We’ll be there in twenty.”
“No! It’s nothing bad. I promise. Besides, I’m expecting someone in a few minutes.” I smirk when I see Ryan’s eyes go wide.
“You didn’t?” she squeals.
“Yeah, he said he would be here in ten minutes, and I’m suddenly terrified. I just talked to Alannah. I asked her to come over in case it goes badly. I just wanted to make sure he has his family to support him when he finds out everything.” I pause. “Did you guys know that Andy attacked him?”
“He told us, but with everything you were dealing with, we didn’t want to add to it.” Kat’s tone is soft, like she’s trying to soothe an angry animal.
“I’m not mad. I was just in shock.” I sigh. “How badly did I fuck this up, guys?”
Before either of them can respond, I hear a knock at my door. My heart is beating so loudly, I can hear it.
