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She didn’t wait for an answer, and he rolled his eyes, leaning against the frame of his bedroom door when she turned and started back toward her room. When she returned, she held out a small, black thumb drive.
“What is this?" he asked, taking it from her outstretched hand.
“They’re still finishing the portraits, but the photographer sent over the edited candid photos from the wedding. I thought you might like to see them.”
“Oh.” He stared at the black rectangle in his palm. “Thank you.”
“Aidan.” Evie’s voice was hesitant. “Can we talk?”
“Why the hell not,” he replied, opening his bedroom door and gesturing her through. “This week couldn’t possibly get any worse.”
She walked a few paces into the room and stopped. “I wanted to say I’m sorry.”
“You talked to Brogan.”
Evie turned, brow furrowed. “Talked to Brogan about what?”
“This.” He gestured between them. “He told you what I said the other day, and now you’re here apologizing.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” And it was clear by the look on her face she didn’t.
“Okay, then, I’ll bite. Sorry for what?”
“For whatever I did to make you hate me so much. I don’t know what it was. But I wish you’d tell me so I could make it right. We were never best friends, but you didn’t hate me…before.”
“Before you left and pulverized my brother’s heart into a million pieces?”
Evie flinched like he’d slapped her. “Is that it? You hate me because I hurt him?”
“Something like that. What does it matter at this point?”
“It matters because I love Declan and Declan loves you. It matters becauseIlove you. I’ve known you since you were two years old, Aidan. I held you when you cried at your grandmother’s funeral. We have a lot of history together, even if I missed ten years of it.”
She clasped her hands in front of her. “And one day, Declan and I are going to have kids, and I don’t want you to hate them because they’re mine.”
His eyes dropped to her stomach. “Are you…?”
“No.” She shook her head. “But we’re trying. I’m sorry, Aidan. I was young and angry and stupid. Declan hurt me, and I did the only thing I could think of in that moment. Run away from the pain. And when I did, I hurt people too.”
She looked up at him, gaze unflinching and full of remorse. “More people than I realized. And I’m sorry I hurt them. I’m sorry I hurt you. I will spend every day of the rest of my life making it up to Declan and to Cait and to you, if you’ll let me. But how much longer do you plan on punishing me for something I have regretted every day for the last ten years?”
“I can’t snap my fingers and make it all go away.”
“Right.” Evie nodded, moving past him to the door. “Do you regret what you did to Viv?”
“Every fucking minute of every goddamn day.”
“And if you reconciled with her tomorrow or next week or ten years from now, if she forgave you and you got to start over, would you want her family to hate you for the rest of your life because of one mistake? I wouldn’t want that for you, Aidan.”
“Evie,” he said when she turned to go. “Thanks for the pictures.”
She gave him a small smile before disappearing around the door. It felt foreign to see Evie and not be angry. He could summon it if he wanted to, but ultimately, she was right. He needed to stop punishing her for something that happened a decade ago. He could no more hate Declan’s kids than he could hate his own, but seeing Evie in them would be difficult unless he could let his anger toward her go. Another problem for another day.
He pulled his laptop out of the bottom drawer of his nightstand, plugging in the thumb drive and bringing up a series of folders labeled things like Bridal Suite, Ceremony, and Reception.
He double-clicked the one marked Bridal Suite and instantly saw rows and rows of Viv in the thumbnails. Getting her hair and makeup done, posing with her bridesmaids in satin robes, getting fitted into her dress, and attaching the veil and tiara.
He clicked out of this folder and into the one marked Ceremony. These were mostly of their back as they went through the motions of the wedding mass. He vaguely remembered the photographer getting close enough to take photos of them exchanging rings. He clicked quickly through these until he got to one that took his breath away.
