AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I manage to fish it out and grin at her. “Sorry. I was eager to read this email.”
“I can tell. Who is it from?”
“Ruby Farnham. Josephine’s grandniece.”
After we slide into the cramped booth, I give the email a quick skim, but it’s not as earth-shattering as I’d hoped. No smoking gun that says which Tulley brother Josephine picked or what her fate was. Rather, Ruby’s cousin in Leeds has dug around in her own attic and is now in possession of her own box of family history.
“Her cousin digitized all the family documents and is willing to email me everything to sift through,” I tell Celeste.
“That’s kind of her.”
“It is.” I tuck the phone in my bag. I’ll respond later.
Our server brings over two glasses and a jug of water, filling them up while we give the menus a quick perusal. The harried man takes our orders, then hurries off.
“So. How’s it going at the flat?” Celeste lifts a brow at me. “Lee told me you could cut the tension with a knife.”
“If you knew how it was going, then why’d you ask?” I grumble.
“Oh dear. Then it’s true? You and Jack are still on the outs?”
“Sort of. We’re not avoiding each other anymore. We talk at breakfast, dinner. But it’s not the same.”
“Look…Abbey,” she starts in a voice eerily reminiscent of hertwin’s, the one Lee uses when I have PMS. “He’s not a bad bloke. Jackie, that is.”
“I know he’s not.” My throat squeezes shut.
“Lee said he and Jack chatted over a pint the other day. Jackie told him about his family’s financial troubles, how much his mum has struggled— ”
“I get it,” I interrupt, aggravation prickling at me. “Celeste, I’m not mad he took the money—well, I’m a little mad about it. But what really eats me up inside is the pretending.”
“The pretending?”
“He pretended to be my friend.” I hate how small my voice sounds. How pathetic. “I thought he was acting protective because he truly cared about me. Especially at the beginning. I thought it was cute the way he didn’t want me hooking up with his friend or whatever. I thought it meant he was developing feelings for me.”
Her face softens. “Oh, luv. Yes. I can see how that would feel demoralizing.”
“Yes. That’s the perfect word for it.”
“But you’re wrong,” she finishes, shrugging.
I narrow my eyes at her. “How so?”
“Of course he wasn’t pretending. Everybody could see Jack was besotted with you.”
My heart trips over itself. “You’re only saying that so I forgive him and stop making things awkward in the group.”
“If that’s what you’d like to believe, all right.” She smiles. “But that’s rubbish. I never say anything I don’t mean.”
Fair point. She and Lee are alike in that way.
“All I’m saying is perhaps we ought to allow Jack a wee bit of grace.”
I think back on this last month. How painful it’s been, running into him upstairs, feeling his elbow bump mine at the breakfast counter. Every time I see him, I’m torn between getting angry all over again or throwing myself at his feet, telling him how much I miss him.
Because I do miss him. Nate too. And each time one of them reaches out to echo that sentiment, it brings a deep ache to my heart.
“On a related note, any word from Nate?” Celeste asks, reading my mind.
