I’m halfway through the first laundry pile when the door opens, and she walks in with a very familiar man behind her. Henry smiles at me, only half his mouth lifting because after the beating he took from my stepdad, he never regained the full use of his right side.
He’s walking with crutches tonight, and a grimace from the constant pain I know he’s in, and I struggle to look at him because I fucking blame myself for this. I didn’t move fast enough when my stepdad went after him.
“Hey, North.”
I swallow down all my feelings as I drop the shirt I’m holding and stand up. I offer my left hand to him. He shifts off his crutch so he can shake it.
Itisweird that they’re dating, but something bloomed between them after they reconnected, and I can see how much he loves her. I can see how their connection grew so far beyond what brought them together, and as jealous as I feel, I’m happy for them both.
“What are you guys up to?”
Westin’s covering her left hand with her right, but after a second, she separates them, and that’s when I see the ring. It’s not a diamond. It’s blue, so that’s, what? Sapphire?
It’s pretty, and the cut makes it very obvious what kind of ring it is. I have no idea how I feel about that. Westin thinks I don’t like her boyfriend, and that’s the furthest thing from the truth.
It’s just hard to live with the constant reminder about how I fucking failed him.
“So. This happened today?” I ask.
She swallows heavily, and then the two of them walk over and drop down on the couch, leaving me with the recliner that has the busted springs.
I sit on the edge and wait as they have a full conversation with just their facial expressions.
“Guys?”
Westin turns to me. “He proposed a couple weeks ago.”
I blink for several seconds. “And you’re just telling me now? Who else knows?” I brace myself for her to say everyone. For her to crush me by telling me I wasn’t worth the same as everyone else was.
“This guy at the coffee shop,” she says. “My new best friend.”
My brow furrows. “Your…new best friend?”
“Never mind. It’s not important.” She waves me off with an impatient hand. “We haven’t told anyone. Henry wanted to make sure you knew first, since you don’t really love the idea that we’re together, and?—”
“Can I have a moment?” I blurt.
Westin startles, then nods. “Yeah. Come on, babe, we can?—”
“With Henry.”
They both freeze. Westin looks at her boyfriend—no, her fiancé—in slight panic. “Um…”
He reaches for her hand and squeezes it. “It’s fine.”
“But—”
“It’s fine,” I repeat. I meet her gaze, then his. “I promise. It’s fine.”
She hesitates, then pulls her phone out of her pocket. “I’m going to call Starr and Meadow. They’re next on the list.” Her tone tells me not to fuck this up, and I hope I won’t.
I just need to clear the air because I’m tired of them walking on eggshells around me.
Henry and I watch her leave, and when the door shuts, I stand up and take the cushion on the very edge of the couch, leaving Henry enough space to get up and walk off if he hates what I have to say.
His right leg starts to spasm, and he presses down on it hard until it stops.
“I don’t dislike you,” I say when I have his attention again. Might as well jump in because the bush to beat around has been burned to ashes by this point. “I hate myself for fucking things up with Jimmy, and I totally understand that you blame me for it.”
