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“But you could’ve not. Why didn’t you tell me?”
She swears under her breath. “Isn’t it obvious? You’re better than this, Clay. You hit him. At my sister’s party. With her baby upstairs.”
Guilt and shame creep in. “I was thinking of you.”
“I need you to think of them too, because they’re my family.”
I exhale hard. I want to argue about this but from the expression on her face, that’ll get me nowhere.
I go in search of Harlan. Instead, I find Mari in the garage, bouncing the baby.
“What are you…?”
“It’s quiet,” Mari says.
The guilt comes back. “That was out of line.”
Her eyes widen a little.
“The table…” I hitch a thumb over my shoulder. “I’ll replace it. And anything else we broke.”
“You don’t need—"
“I will. I’m sorry.”
When I go back inside, Nova’s in the kitchen alone, pacing. “Have you seen Mari?”
“Hey. She’s in the garage taking a breather. I told her I fucked up and I’d make it up to her.”
Her eyes widen. “You did?”
“Yeah.” I’m not sure how yet, but…
Nova presses up onto her toes and kisses me. “Thank you.”
Her eyes are big and wide and full of emotion.
Well, shit. Maybe there’s something to humility.
“I’m not apologizing to Kyle, though.”
Her hands find my biceps, her cool fingers digging into my skin. “You shouldn’t hit people.”
Her voice is breathier than it was a second ago.
“Oh, really?”
It might be cold outside, but the air between us is thick.
Nova nods.
“Then why are you looking at me like that, Pink?”
“I’m not looking at you like anything.”
“Yeah, you are.” I grin.
She bites her lip and glances over her shoulder. “My bedroom is still free. We have ten minutes before the countdown.”
