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“As much as you think you have me pegged, Phil, this isnotlike any other situation I’ve gotten myself into.” I cleared my throat. “Abby is special, and we’ve connected in a way I hadn’t anticipated. There’s been no one else since the day I met her, if you’re wondering about that. This isn’t a game to me.”
“How long has it been going on?” Kate asked.
“It started shortly before she came out here when Roland had the heart attack. We’d been slowly growing closer before that.” I rubbed my temples. “Neither of us knows what the future holds. I’ve told her I think she’s better off without me, and I don’t want to tie her down in any way. She needs to be able to walk away from this situation after the baby comes, but…”
“But you care about her.” She completed my sentence.
I nodded. “I have no desire to end things right now. We’re both a bit confused by this turn of events and what it’s going to mean for the future.” I sighed. “I really don’t know much more than I’m telling you now, except to say I’m a better person when I’m around her. I feel alive. And I haven’t been able to say that in a very long time.”
“Well, no need for further explanation, then. Obviously, we don’t want to see Abby get hurt, but we care about you just as much.” Kate shrugged. “You’re adults. That’s the bottom line. And we want you both to be happy.”
“But clearly I’ve screwed up the plan.”
“We’ll figure it out,” she said.
Exhaling, I sat back in my seat. “I’m strangely relieved that you ran into us today. Because I had no idea how to tell you. I might have continued putting it off.”
“I’m not sure why I didn’t foresee this,” Kate said.
“Icertainly didn’t. Abby and I didn’t get along very well in the beginning. It was never my intention to fall for her, to complicate things.”
Phil eyed me through the rearview mirror. “Some of the best things in life are complicated. Complicated makes life interesting.”
I put my hands on the backs of their seats and leaned in. “Anyway, all this to say…don’t hate me, alright?”
Kate reached back to pat me on the shoulder. “We love you too much for that.”
CHAPTER 40
Sig
Track 40: “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” by Meatloaf
That evening, Kate and Phil offered to keep Roland company while Abby and I went out. It was a much-needed reprieve. Even though I liked her father a lot, it had felt a little claustrophobic in that house.
I’d made a reservation at the nicest restaurant in town, a seafood place by the water. Abby looked adorable in a white empire-waist dress, and she wore her long hair up, which she’d never done before. I appreciated the uninterrupted view of her slender neck, tempted at every turn to wrap my hand around it.
“At least Phil and Kate didn’t seem too freaked out about us,” she said as she placed her napkin on her lap. “You never had a chance to fill me in on how the talk went.”
“We had a good chat. They’re just as confused as we are, but they handled it well and will be accepting of whatever choices we make.”
Abby stared into her water glass. “I would assume not much affects you when you’ve already been through hell like they have.”
“That’s definitely true. They’re strong people. I was more ashamed of not having told them than worried about their reaction. They insisted I didn’t owe them an explanation, but I believe I did.”
Abby’s gaze suddenly moved to something happening in the corner of the restaurant.
“What’s wrong?” I turned around to look.
“You know that ex of mine, Asher?”
I stiffened. “Yeah?”
“Well, he’s sitting right over there. He’s the guy in the red shirt.”
I turned again. The bloke had blond hair and sat across from another guy. He hadn’t seemed to notice her yet.
“Do you want to leave?” I asked.
