So many questions. I smooth out the space between my eyebrows.
“Rory…” I say, but she doesn’t stop.
“She’s taken over the kitchen? So, is she there for the long haul? Is she living at the inn? Do we hate her?Ordo we still like her?”
So, so many questions.
“Rory,” I say louder and with a bit more force to get her attention.
“What?” She finally takes a breath.
“Do you want answers or do you want to keep peppering me with incessant questions?”
“I want answers. Zipping my lips now. Sorry.” She goes completely silent after making a zipping noise.
I chuckle. “Okay. So, yes, Avi is here. The same Avi I wasfriendswith during the summers.” I emphasize the wordfriends, but evenRory knows it’s a lie because she harrumphs—though, to her credit, she doesn’t interrupt. “We were kind of more than friends one summer… but it all went to shit.”
“And bywent to shit, you mean…?”
“I mean I was an asshole and broke her heart when we were seventeen…” I squeeze my eyes shut and force out the next words. “And in turn she broke mine.”
“Wait… What?” Rory says, shock coloring her tone.
I sigh because this is the part I haven’t told anyone.
“The summer after senior year when I came back to Scotland, I was hoping she’d keep her promise of spending one more summer together on Skye. That I’d get to apologize, because she’d completely cut off contact after—well, everything. But when I came back, she wasn’t here. I went to where she lives in Glasgow and looked for her…”
“And you didn’t find her?” Rory asks.
“No… I did. But she wasn’t alone and”—I blow out a breath—“she had a baby, Rory. Like, a tiny baby, and this guy… She’d completely moved on. She must have gotten pregnant not long after I left the summer before, so she clearly wasn’t as broken up over everything that happened between us as I thought she was.”
“Did she… Did she see you?”
“No. I walked out, went to Skye for a couple weeks, and then told my grandparents I was going to change my flight to go home early to get ready for college.”
“And you never went back,” she says, a sadness filling the space between us. “I’m sorry, Jamie. I always wondered what happened,but I never imagined… Why didn’t you ever say anything? I could tell you were hurting, but you wouldn’t talk about it.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it to be like I was keeping it from you. I just—something about mine and Avi’s relationship out here had always been just ours. And I was so ashamed of the way I acted with her that I didn’t want to tell anyone what happened. Not you. Not even my parents or grandparents. Then I realized how much I’d messed up, that I loved her, but by that point she wouldn’t even return my emails. She just… moved on.” I squeeze my eyes shut because that still stings, no matter how mature I’m trying to be or how much I’m trying to let it go. That still fucking stings.
“Jamie…” Rory’s voice softens, and I’m glad we aren’t on FaceTime because I don’t want to see what I’m sure is pity on her face.
“So, anyway,” I say, trying to move us back to the present, “she’s here now and her son, Lennox, will be here once his school year ends. And she’s the new head chef for the restaurant. So, yeah.” That’s the best I’ve got.
“Are you okay?”
“Ehhh, depends on the day. She still has my sweatshirt. An Empyreal one I gave her when we were teens. It still looks fucking amazing on her too,” I grumble, picturing exactly the way she looked in it last night.
“She can’t hate you all that much if she kept it,” she says. “Also, you didn’t answer my other question. Is it awkward?”
I shrug even though she can’t see me. “Kind of, but it’s getting better. We’ve talked a bit, just not aboutthen. I think that’s best. Maybe we can move on. Be friends… I guess.”
“Right…” She drags the word out, clearly having more thoughts on the matter.
“What?” I grump, but it’s half-hearted. I can never truly be annoyed with Rory.
“Nothing. Friends is good. So, is the guy coming with her? You mentioned Lennox but not him.”
“No, she’s single. From what she’s said it doesn’t sound like he stuck around, which is fucking confusing because I kind of built a whole idea up in my head where she was married and had a kid with this guy… only to find out the guy isn’t part of the picture.” I want to throw my hands up in frustration. Even though I was an idiot and left Avi once, I came back, and I can’t imagine leaving her behindwith a kidand never looking back.
