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Carter looked sympathetic. “Okay. Idea: Why don’t you take a month off and really think about it? Take a class. Try something new. Just do some thinking. I’ll take care of things here,” he said. “Kieran can help with managing the crews, and Elias can make sure I don’t fuck up the paperwork. This can work, Luke.”
And, just like that, I had an out.
“Go home, man. We can carry on without you. You’re free,” he said. He smiled and tried to get me to laugh along with him, but I couldn’t. I felt too numb.
“I guess I am.”
I felt like I was underwater as I grabbed my jacket and headed to my truck.
This was my chance to do anything. I should have felt relief.
But instead I felt emptiness.
Fifteen
Cindy
“This is the last one,” I announced, tossing the final box of Maya’s stuff onto the floor of Stephanie’s living room.
After I made my two a.m. decision to move out of my sister’s apartment, the happy couple decided to take the opportunity to move in together. And since I felt a little bit guilty for fleeing in the middle of the night, I offered to help with the heavy lifting.
“Thanks, Cindy,” Maya said. She wasn’t looking at me. She had her arms looped around her fiancée’s neck. They stared into one another’s eyes lovingly, and I knew they were seconds from celebrating their move in a way I probably shouldn’t be around for.
I cleared my throat and prepared to make my exit.
“If that’s everything, I’m going to head out.”
“Hang on just a sec. We need to talk,” Stephanie informed me. She pressed a kiss to Maya’s cheek and shot her await herelook before corralling me into the kitchen.
“What’s going on?”
“Carter told me you’re staying with Luke and his mom,” she said.
“Yeah.”
She pursed her lips curiously. “How’s that going?”
“It’s fine.”
“Really?”
I shrugged. “I guess. It’s a little awkward.”
“Since you hooked up with him?”
My eyes went wide. “How did you know about that?”
“So it’s true?” she accused.
“Wait, what? We’re not… How did you find out about that?”
“Andy Hauserman came into Rook’s the other night and hit up Kieran. He tried to collect on a bet from, like, a decade ago.”
“God, it’s been ten years and Luke and I are still Blue Creek gossip.”
“So, it’s true then? You and Luke are…”
“We fooled around once. Once,” I restated for emphasis. “But we cooled it off really fast. We both realized it was a bad idea.”
