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“Don’t you live in Northern Maine? It would be astronomical.”
Her head snapped up. “I have to gonow,Colin. My mother said he might die. I don’t have time to brainstorm options with you.”
He sighed. His breath sliced the air, sharp and certain. “Let’s go.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m driving.”
“Stonington’s like four hours away.”
He scooped Monty into his arms. “Who else is going to take you?”
He was her only option. She hated him for that. And even more for being right. “This doesn’t make everything okay.”
“I’m well aware.” He smoothed Monty’s ears with impossibly gentle fingers. Allison hated those fingers. And wanted them to hold her at the same time.
Not waiting for her answer, Colin started walking. His strides were long and urgent. He was taking this seriously.
Allison hated him for that, too. And hated herself for needing everything he was giving her. She stumbled along in his wake, refusing to let go of Monty’s leash. “Then why are you doing this?”
Colin glanced back over his shoulder. His mouth was a line of worry, his hazel eyes wide. “Because I’m not the monster you want me to be.”
Chapter 18
There were some situations not even donuts could fix.
The dozen sitting on the dashboard of Colin’s old Honda Civic were a testament to how hard he was trying to prove this theory wrong.
Allison nibbled on a vanilla-glazed brioche as she pressed herself into the passenger side door. The car was so tiny it was hard to put space between them. And she needed space, because it didn’t matter that he was driving her drunk ass from Rhode Island to Maine in the middle of the night. Helping her because it was, morally speaking, the right thing to do would not simply erase everything else he’d done.
“Donuts are the best pre-hangover food, am I right?” His eyes cut from the stretch of empty highway to her face. They’d only been on the road for half an hour but it felt like an eternity.
“Nope. Bagel sandwiches.” Allison stared through the windshield, watching the headlights slice at the dark.
“You should have ordered one, then.”
She scowled. “I didn’t want anything. It’s you who ordered the smorgasbord.” She flicked a hand toward the box of donuts.
“You have to eat something.”
“Okay, Dad.”
As soon as the word was out of her mouth, Allison regretted it,flinching at the feel of that one syllable on her lips. She’d never called Jed “Dad” that she could remember, and now… well, she might not have the opportunity. Stomach twisting, she glanced down at the phone in her lap. Nothing from her mother.
Hopefully that meant Allison still had time.
Colin’s eyes on her face were too keen, too prying. If it wouldn’t have led to their inevitable death via fiery car crash, she would have knocked his glasses from his nose.
“Allison,” he said gently.
The softness in his voice hurt. With every part of her full of cracks, it was exactly the tone she needed, and Allison hated wanting it. She wasn’t that girl who fell apart in emergencies. When Sophie’s grandmother had lost her battle with cancer junior year, Allison had been her rock. She’d kept her best friend afloat. Now she was drowning, with only Colin to pull her up.
She didn’t want to cling to him.
“What?” she snapped.
“You smell like a brewery.”
