Page 96 of The Other Room

“Have faith in Jo and your love,” Jake said. “She’ll forgive you. She has to. You and Jo are meant to be. I’m surprised it took you two this long to figure it out.”

“You knew?” I spun to look at him.

“No, I didn’t know, but I suspected. More like, wondered why you two didn’t get together. You’re perfect for each other.”

“You are perfect for each other,” Cassie added.

“Well, let’s hope I can convince her of the same thing.”

I pulled in the last of my line and hooked my bait back onto the eye to keep it from swinging.

“Let us know if there’s anything we can do to help.” Jake gave me a smile. “We’ve got your back.”

“You guys are the best. And seriously. No going out of town anymore. I was totally lost without you both.”

Cassie laughed and tossed an arm around my shoulder. “Don’t worry, Matt. It’s going to be fine. Just get out there and go find your girl. Then tell her to call me when you’re all patched up because I want to hear all the details about how you finally confessed your love for her.” She waggled her eyebrows, and I burst into laughter.

“I’m sure she’ll tell you all about it. Just give me some time to fix it.”

“You will.” Cassie kissed my cheek. “Good luck, Matt.”

“Jake, I’ll call you later.”

“Keep me posted, buddy. Good luck.”

I handed Cassie back my coffee mug and gave Poppy a scratch on the head before marching back up to my truck. When I climbed inside, I dialed Jo again.

Voicemail. Damn it.

With a new sense of hope, I pulled out and drove back to Sister Bay. Her Jeep wasn’t at the cabin when I got there, but Cassie and Jake were right. She may have told me to get out, but I wasn’t going anywhere until I got a chance to talk to her and set things straight. And if that meant sitting all day in this cabin and ambushing her at JJ’s, then that’s exactly what I would do.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

JO

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I felt like a zombie while I went through the motions at JJ’s. Just yesterday at work I’d been floating behind this bar like I had clouds beneath my shoes. Tonight it felt more like someone strapped cinderblocks to my feet. Every step took more effort than the last, but fighting the tears took the most effort of all.

Being a girl who rarely cried, fighting the desire to flop down on the floor and sob a sea of tears felt foreign to me.

Tears were for weak people. People who weren’t strong enough to push through whatever shit life threw at them. I never cried because it fixed nothing. Crying didn’t change a shitty situation, and it sure as hell didn’t make anything better. Yet here I was struggling to contain the tears begging to burst free.

It turns out having a broken heart could crack open the dam of tears even for people like me.

Don’t cry.

“You sure you’re okay?” Hanson asked as I stared blankly at the row of tequila bottles on the shelf, blinking hard to contain the flood of tears.

“Yeah. Fine,” I lied.

No, I wasn’t okay. I was as far from okay as I’d ever been. Yesterday Matt and I were heading for happily ever after. Today I was trying to process that not only had that future been snatched from me, but the future where he was my best friend was gone, too. Matt held no place in my new future.

“If you want to talk about something, just let me know,” Hanson said, and I nodded.

“Thanks. I’m okay.”

The drink printer beeped, and I heaved a heavy sigh then walked over to see what drinks were waiting to be made.