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And I tamped down my need to rush out, commandeer his Jeep, track down Sam Wheeler, and make her my Pompeii.
“Maybe,” I forced out tightly. “But you had Genny.”
“She didn’t give me Genny. She hated her. Dad gave me Genny too.”
That fuckingbitch.
I said nothing.
He let my waistband go, but both his arms rounded me at my chest. He hugged me tight, and I heard him breathe in the scent of my hair.
And I hoped with everything I had he was getting something from me. Some sense of familiarity, or security, or strength, or whatever he needed to keep him going right now.
He held me, back to front, distant and right there, how he needed me to give this to him, and then I heard and felt him sigh.
“Let’s go downstairs,” he said.
He let me go, and I took his hand this time, so we walked side by side.
Genny’s attention shot right to Hale when we showed, and in that moment, I didn’t care she didn’t like me. I didn’t care if she never liked me.
I loved her for him.
I loved he had a mom who thought the woman he was seeing wasn’t good enough for him. I loved that he’d had her in his corner his whole life. I just loved her.
Then her gaze came to me.
I shook my head just once.
She looked pissed, and worried, then she nodded to me, also once.
“Duncan finished the tortillas, Hale. I think we’re ready,” Genny announced.
“I’ll refresh everyone’s drinks,” I offered.
“I’ll help Elsa,” Carole said.
“I’ll help get all this food on the table,” Zoey said.
“I’ll eat it when all that good grub gets in front of me,” Chuck said.
There were some laughs.
But no one really meant it.
* * *
I was sittingon a blanket on the beach.
Hale, Zoey and Carole were facing off against Fliss, Chuck and Duncan in a game of touch football in the swiftening dark.
Genny had been up in the house, having secluded herself in a room when a call came in from Chloe (they were totally talking about me, I knew it).
And now she was down with us, I knew since she was settling on the blanket beside me.
“Who’s winning?” she asked.
“Duncan has some moves. But Chuck needs more cardio. And Fliss is a flake with the attention span of a gnat. They’re going down.”
