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It was easiest to go to The Siren for lunch, so we wandered down there with Nick in tow. Aaron was catching him up on the work we’d done on the plane throughout the morning. I listened with one ear but my thoughts were swirling in an entirely different direction as we walked. Aaron and Gemma were getting married in less than a year. Would Holly and I be back together again? Or would we be those awkward exes who run into each other somewhere and pretend to be interested in each other’s lives while wishing the floor would open up and swallow us whole?
It was hard to picture. But then again, I’d never imagined Holly standing in our bedroom, cheeks soaked with tears, packing a suitcase.
Going home to an empty house was a new—and not welcome—experience. Princess greeted me at the door, a battered tennis ball in her mouth, and I had a flashback to the days right before I’d met Holly. I’d worked long hours, gone home to Princess and either takeout or something that came from a frozen box for dinner. On the weekends, my idea of living it up was picking up a six-pack at the grocery store.
“Hey, girl,” I said, taking the slobber-coated ball from Princess. “Need a little beach time? Yeah? Me too.”
I wandered to the kitchen, dropping my jacket on the back of the couch along the way, and grabbed a beer bottle from the fridge. I pulled open the back door and waved the ball at Princess. She ran across the floor, skidding when her nails hit the hardwood floor in the kitchen. She shimmied through the door and we headed down the back steps and then crossed through the yard, over the small paved path, and then the sand. I chucked the ball and Princess tore off after it. The sun was setting over the ocean and without thinking, I turned, as if to comment on it to Holly. My stomach clenched when I remembered she wasn’t there with me.
After three years of being damn near inseparable, I was alone again. And I didn’t like it one bit.
“Damn it, Boomer. Get your head together.”
Princess darted back up the beach and dropped the ball at my feet. As I reared back and threw the ball, a roar erupted from some deep place inside of me. My yell was swallowed up in the sand and the sea and the ocean breeze but it felt good to get it out, so I did it again. A long untamed yell that came straight from my gut. It was a whole helluva lot better than crying, which was what I was trying to keep myself from doing since she walked out the door.
An hour went by before Princess finally gave up and flopped down into the sand. I lowered myself beside her, still nursing my beer, and reached over to scratch her ears. She raised her golden head and dropped it down onto my thigh. Her brown eyes rolled up to me and my heart sank. “I know, girl. I miss them too.”
My phone chirped in my pocket and I pushed Princess off of me to grab it quickly. It had to be Holly. It just had to be. She must be out somewhere, staring at the sunset, and thinking of me too.
It was Aaron.
“Fuck.”
I almost didn’t answer but at the last second I slid my thumb over the screen. “What?”
“Damn,” he replied. “Hello to you too, Boomer.”
I groaned and rubbed a hand over my face. “Sorry, man. I thought it might be…”
“Aha.” Aaron didn’t need me to fill in the blanks. “Well, I’m sorry to disappoint. Listen, you free right now? I wanna grab a beer.”
I glanced at the unfinished one in my hand and debated telling him I was home for the night, but I knew that staying home would just lead me to wander around the empty house, thinking about Holly, and wondering how in the hell I was going to get her back. Aaron might at least have some advice.
“Sure. Harvey’s?”
“Be there in ten.”
After feeding Princess and changing into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, I headed out to meet Aaron. As soon as I dropped onto the chair beside his, I knew it wasn’t just a beer. Something was wrong. His features were tight and tensed and he barely gave me a smile as I joined him at the table.
“Looks like you got a head start on me,” I said, gesturing to the two empty bottles on the table. How long had he been here? I hadn’t taken that long getting over to the bar.
“Boomer, we go way back,” he started, ignoring my comment.
Shit, where is this going?
I nodded slowly, still trying to piece it together. “Yeah? What’s wrong?”
He leveled me with a stare. “Why couldn’t you come to me and tell me you were unhappy?”
