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And left her and Birdie.
Jake reached her first. "What in the hell is going on?"
Matt screeched to a halt seconds behind his younger brother, not even winded by the run. "Did Cal just drive off with that singer?"
"He left me," Abigail said, wrapping her arms around her waist, suddenly chilled despite the heat of the July night. "He's gone."
"That motherfu-"
But Abigail didn't hear the rest of Jake's oath. The ground had come up to meet her, and the last thing she saw before the sweet gift of darkness enveloped her was the sight of two taillights turning west onto the highway.
Shelby dropped a serving spoon and jarred Abigail from the horror of that night.
"Sorry," Shelby said, her ponytail swinging as she shelved the bowls in the built-in china hutch, her rounded belly brushing the ceramic tiled counter. "I know you don't want to talk about Cal. I shouldn't have brought it up."
"It's okay. Truly. It happened long ago and I'm mostly over it." In her mind she still smelled the acrid fireworks, still felt the nausea when she'd opened her eyes to her friends and family looking at her with pity.
Absolute pity.
"So if it's not Cal making you prickly, is it Leif?" Abigail turned away, pretending to wipe up soap suds.
"Why would my daughter's art teacher be on my mind?"
"He's really cute. And nice. And he asked me about you the other day.”
"Wait, he asked about me?"
"He wanted to know if you were seeing anyone. He seemed interested." Shelby's eyes danced with excitement. Typical of someone who had just fallen in love. They thought everyone should be as happy as they were.
"He's not," Abigail lied, wishing she had the guts to nod and say, "Damn right he is."
"Yeah, he is. And though not many people could see you with someone like him, I think you'd be good together."
"That's crazy. We have nothing in common."
"Neither did me and John."
"Well, I'm different."
"How?" Shelby cocked her head like a little bunny... a little bunny Abigail wanted to punch. She didn't want to talk about Leif. Or Cal. She'd made up her mind to tell Leif she wasn't interested. That was a rational move. She couldn't take watching him walk away from her. She been there, done that, barely recovered from it. Better to keep him where he was-her daughter's art teacher.
"I'm not you."
"No, duh. But you're still pretty, young, available. You don't have to let it get serious. Just have some fun with him. Cal won't be so presumptive if you're dating someone else, right?"
Shelby had a point.
But Abigail couldn't use Leif for fun ...or to dissuade Cal. That would be selfish.
''No. That's silly." But her voice cracked.
And Shelby heard it. "Is this upsetting you? Bad memories or are you really that put off by Leif?"
Abigail had no clue why she was close to tears. This wasn't what she did. She was strong, resolute, didn't cry except in the privacy of her own bedroom. But at that moment she felt so weak. Maybe it was because Birdie had sat with Cal and his parents during church that morning, leaving her alone on the pew. Or maybe it was because she'd just immersed herself in the memory of Cal leaving her. Or maybe because, despite all the roadblocks she'd tossed up, she really wanted to do what Shelby suggested and have some fun with Leif.
"Everyone says I need to get laid."
Shelby's baby blues grew as wide as Aunt Lucy's backside. "Well, that's obvious. Your butt's been working button holes for as long as I can remember. You actually scared me when I first met you. John called you the colonel."
