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She rolled her lips together and nodded. Her usually straightened, long, black hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun, and the bags under her eyes indicated that either she and Brody, her longtime boyfriend, were fighting, or this Stevie situation was weighing on her as much as it was on me.
She picked up a shot glass and clinked it against the one she left for me.
I shook my head as I tapped the little glass against the bar, then threw it back, swallowing down the burn.
Staring at her now hit me with a twisted sense of deja-vu. Here I was, once again, staring at the friend who had all the answers, but didn’t really want to share any of them with me. But I wasn’t some helpless, heartbroken teenager anymore.
“Where is she? Where’s Fi?” I demanded.
She placed both hands on the bar and dropped her head down. “I think you should have that conversation with Stevie.”
I let out an incredulous scoff and started getting up. “Should’ve expected that kind of cryptic shit from you. What am I even here for then?”
“Sit,” she ordered, looking at me with determination in her fiery eyes. “You’re here because of Stevie. Let’s keep her at the center of this. I think it’s pretty obvious that you’re her dad.”
“No shit, Sherlock,” I blurted out. “Wish I would’ve known eight fucking years ago.”
She rolled her dark eyes. “Calm down.”
“Calm- Calm down?! Really?!” I practically shouted.
“Shh!” She eyed the regulars in the bar and cut me a warning look. “Didn’t Fi give you a note or something? Back in high school?” she whispered tersley.
My eyes widened. “It sure as fuck never said she was pregnant!” I fell back on the barstool and rubbed a frustrated hand over my face and tried to think back. Whathadit said? I was only able to read it once before that asshole teacher ruined it. I remembered being confused with a line about me giving her more than I could ever know… Well, now it made complete fucking sense. I gave her a baby.
Fi was pregnant.
That’s why she disappeared that summer.
A mental supercut of us swamped my mind. Her bright, mischievous eyes, the way she’d tug my wrist and run, sure that I’d follow her into any trouble, her bubbly laugh, her tears when the sadness swallowed her up. Her tears… her bruises…
Those memories doused my internal flames, and I was left there sighing and shaking my head. She was afraid of men… She thought it’d be more peaceful without any men for a while… But my chest ached knowing that I could’ve helped if she would’ve let me.
“I can tell you’re beating yourself up about this, and I don’t want to overstep, but don’t.”
I swallowed hard and stared at her. “Can you just fucking tell me what you’re thinking, Adrienne? You girls are smarter than me, okay? Piece it together for me, please,” I practically begged.
Adrienne pursed her lips. “Okay.” Her shoulders sagged. “Fiona… She found out that spring, but she kept it a secret. I didn’t even know until much later. Until after you left town actually. I told her to track you down, to tell you, but she refused. She knew if you found out that you’d leave hockey behind and end up stuck in that town, and she didn’t want you to resent her or the baby. She knew how important hockey was to you and she wanted you to make it. I know she had plans to tell you, but she kept putting it off because she was scared of what you’d think. And then she became worried and protective of Stevie. She asked me once, ‘What if he’s changed? What if he’s not a good guy anymore?’ You have to remember, we’re talking about a girl who had a shitty past with men, so you can blame her all you want, but you of all people could probably understand her the best.”
I reached for the vodka bottle and poured myself another shot. The truth was, I did understand Fiona’s actions, but I still hated them. Those words gutted me.What if he’s not a good guy anymore?Fuck. She never even gave me the chance to be a better man.
“So, I think you need to get ahead of this,” Adrienne said, cutting into my thoughts.
I met her eyes. “What do you mean?”
She grimaced. “I mean… Fiona’s parents. Do you remember them at all?”
“Yeah. Her dad was a violent shithead, right?” I asked dryly.
“Yeah. It wasn’t a good situation. They were the main reason she ran away when she found out she was pregnant.”
“Where did she go?” While I desperately wanted to know so I could picture it all in my head, I was scared to know.
Adrienne patted my shoulder. “Remember what I told you back in high school? She did find a better place. She worked for Mrs. Marshall, remember her?”
I shut my eyes, searching my memory, trying to place that name.
“She owned the inn in Chesterfield,” Adrienne offered. “Fiona stayed there and worked for food and rent. It was a good situation, and Mrs. Marshall was like a grandmother to Stevie.”
