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Mom gives my arms a squeeze. “Just excited to take you out on a girls’ date.” She smiles. “We’re going to have the best time ever.”
“Okay?”
She elbows me. “Ready? We should get going.”
Mom is also never in a rush. Something’s definitely up, but I’m too tired to try to figure it out as I climb into the passenger side of Mom’s Cherokee.
“Is Coast even open this early?” I ask when we pull into the parking lot at quarter past four.
Mom nods. “They’re open for lunch too, honey, remember? It’s an all-day kinda place.”
“Right. I forgot.”
She holds open the door for me and I step inside. Taking off my sunglasses, I slip them into my bag and look up.
That’s when I see him.
Tuck.
He’s standing at the bar, his elbow resting on the back of a stool, his other hand pushed in the front pocket of his dark jeans. Tattoos peek over the collar of his white button-up. His head is turned away from us, the sinews of his neck popping against his tanned skin in the most obliterating, outrageously handsome way ever.
My stomach takes a swan dive.What the hell is he doing here?
The bartender hands him a glass of something bubbly and light colored. He doesn’t take a sip. Instead, he turns his head.
Our gazes lock. Everything inside me lifts, only to be sucked back inside my chest. My heart is like a black hole, devouring everything.Feelingeverything.
Hurt.
Hope.
Want.
I want this man so badly I literally am going to be sick. An awful, metallic taste fills my mouth, but before I can even look for a receptacle to puke in, Tuck is holding out the glass.
“Ginger ale. Here, have some.”
I stare at the glass. Then him.
Was Tuck expecting me? And did he know that when I saw him I’d enter into a queasy tailspin? Is that why he has ginger ale ready?
If he’s being thoughtful—sweet—I don’t understand why. He let me go. He broke my heart. This show of chivalry is wasted.
I still take the ginger ale, though. Drinking it, I feel marginally less nauseous as I search Tuck’s face for any hint of why he’s here.
“Better?” he asks.
Putting a hand on my stomach, I nod. “Yeah. I wasn’t expecting—” I shake my head. “Tuck, what the hell are you doing here?”
“I’m here to apologize.” His Adam’s apple bobs. “I’m here to tell you that I miss you and I can’t live without you because I’m so fucking in love with you, Tiny.”
My eyes bulge. Did he just say what I think he said?
Did he just call me Tiny?
Tuck Monroe is in love with me.
“Wow,” Mom says beside me. “You really don’t waste any time, do you, Tuck?”
