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Well, that and the fact that I’m a fucked-up mess with enough demons to keep me that way for the rest of my life.
Inhaling deep, I follow Adam and Dax toward the front door. Time to face the past.
Abby
“You okay?” Kate’s protruding belly bumps into me as she attempts to pull the boxed-up infant car seat out of the trunk of her SUV.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired.” I swat her hands away, tugging the enormous box to the back edge of the tailgate. “You’re going to hurt yourself if you keep lifting heavy things, Kate.”
“What’s this about you lifting stuff?” Dax comes into the four-car garage, his displeasure with his wife evident in his dark eyes.
Kate backs away, putting her hands on her hips. “What? I’m pregnant, not an invalid, Dax.”
He slides his arms around her shoulders and drops a kiss on her head. “I know, angel. I just don’t want you to do anything strenuous. The doctor said no heavy lifting.”
The love in their eyes as they stare at each other is clear. I look away. Not only is the moment private, but I’m also filled with a profound sadness. No one has ever gazed at me that way. Well, Hawke came close, but there was always something in those unusual eyes holding him back.
“Abby!” Adam Reynolds, charming lead singer for the guys’ very successful band, hurries over to take the bulky car seat from me. “Good to see you, love. But leave the big things to us men.” He winks, then promptly fumbles the box, dropping it on the cement floor of the garage with a loud thwack.
“Christ, Adam!” Dax booms.
Kate smacks her husband’s abs, scowling. “Leave him alone, Dax! He’s helping.”
Dax grimaces. “Yeah, helping to break everything.”
Adam laughs, breaking the thick tension. “Fuck off, Davies.”
I’m sure I look ridiculous, my eyes bouncing back and forth between Dax and Adam. They’ve always been this way, arguing and picking on each other. It reminds me of my brother, Nick, during the good times. Before his illness took over his life, we used to bicker and laugh.
“Are you guys going to pick that up or just leave it on the ground forever?”
Electricity skitters down my spine at the sound of Hawke’s teasing voice. Oh my god. I close my eyes and silently curse my best friend out. Kate didn’t mention Hawke would be here. Am I ready to see him again? To find out if he’s finally dealt with any of the myriad of issues he used to hide behind a pair of unnecessary glasses and a slew of tattoos?
No, but it’s too late now.
Slowly, I turn around. When I lay eyes on the man I used to love, everything else fades away. He looks the same, yet different. More tattoos, a few more lines around his beautiful eyes—heterochromia—I looked it up once. One eye is light brown, one blue, and both are fixed on me.
“Hi.”
That’s what I come up with to say after almost seven years apart? Hi?
“Hey,” he mumbles, his gaze dropping to the box on the ground. “I’ll get this one, Reynolds. Since it seems your arms are too spindly to hold on to it.”
Hawke scoops up the large package and quickly leaves the garage. I stare after him, wondering if that was perhaps the most awkward conversation to ever take place.
“Let’s get the rest of the stuff. Ugh, my feet are so swollen. Abby?”
Kate’s voice pulls me from my daze. “Sure. You probably need to lie down and put your feet up.” I give her a weak smile, one she can tell isn’t genuine, if the confused look on her face means anything.
Once everything is in the house, Kate immediately announces how hungry she is.
“Hawke, can you and Abby run and pick up some dinner? I’m calling an order into Gino’s.” She has her phone to her ear and turns her back on us, effectively dismissing us to do her bidding.
Really, Kate?
I’m going to kill her for this. She knows what happened be
tween Hawke and me way back when and is putting us together on purpose. Forced into a car alone isn’t exactly how I want to reconnect. Not after so long and not after the way we left things when we broke up.
