Page 57 of Six Wishes

CHAPTER26

I’ll be there

Chloe

It’s been two days since the fiasco with Van. I am still dazed and confused about the entire thing. How he told me that he loved me in one breath, and that he was breaking up with me in the next is just beyond me.

“He what?”

Hunter stopped by today to check on me. I’m sure my mom told her to. I didn’t think that I wanted to see anyone, but now that I got all the mess off my chest, I have to admit that I feel much better.

“He broke up with me.” Hunter’s eyes go big and her mouth opens and closes like she is a fish out of water. I kind of feel the same way.

“But I thought you said he said that he loved you…” She is trying to find a logic in this whole thing. I can relate.

“He did,” I nod in confirmation. “But he also said that we were probably moving too fast. That’s something I had mentioned before, and he did a very good job of convincing me that I was wrong.”

I feel tears forming in my eyes, and I am momentarily distracted by that. I haven’t been able to cry since Van drove off from my mother’s driveway. Why I feel like doing that now as I am talking to Hunter is just baffling.

“Aww, it’ll be okay, babe,” Hunter scoots closer to me on the couch and pulls me in a gentle hug, kissing my head. I feel like a small child who scraped her knee, and now her mom is soothing her, assuring her it’ll all heal up as it should.

“I’ll be fine,” I push myself away from Hunter and start rubbing at my face. “I mean, we haven’t even been together for that long, right? Who falls in love this fast?”

Hunter watches me thoughtfully for a few moments as I try to get my shit together. She is worrying her bottom lip, her teeth digging into it looking almost painful. She mulls things over for a little longer, and I let her be. I can tell she’s got a lot going on through her head, and I wonder how much of it has something to do with Zach Cavanaugh. If any of it does.

“I think you can,” she finally says, and my eyes go to hers in confusion. “Fall in love this fast, I mean,” she explains, then starts playing with the fringes around the hole in her jeans. “I fell in love this fast, too. And then I ruined it. For nothing really,” she looks like she is about to cry now as well.

I decide not to ask her for any details on that. I know she’ll tell me when she’s ready to. Hunter has always been a complicated person when it comes to sharing anything personal. She never just does it. She always waits until it is either about to suffocate her inside, or until she feels that whatever she’s got to say is actually helpful to the situation at hand.

“We’ll both be okay, Slayer.”

We both burst into fits of giggles at that and the heavy moment from a minute ago is broken. The nickname I just called her is something her dad used to call her when we were kids. Hunter and Ridge’s father owns a large chain of stores that sell anything and everything outdoors related. My uncle is obsessed with hunting and fishing, but mostly hunting. He had high hopes for his kids at some point that they’d become these great hunters, but neither one of them showed interest long term. Hunter even less than her brother.

“Good thing Dad’s got Brooke to focus on now,” Hunter is still laughing. Her sister-in-law grew up in Michigan where her father taught her how to hunt and even skin a deer. I guess that was a huge sign for Ridge that he was in love. And since Brooke’s own father passed away some time back, my uncle took her under his wing. His favorite thing nowadays is to shoot bows with Brooke in the backyard.

“I’m sure little Levi will follow into his grandpa’s steps,” I nudge her with my shoulder.

“Oh, I’m sure,” Hunter agrees, but now she doesn’t seem to be as happy as she was seconds ago.

“He is adorable, isn’t he? Levi,” I clarify when she turns empty eyes my way. I am actually getting a bit worried now. “Your parents seem to be obsessed with him,” I continue, hoping to break the tension suddenly cloaking us. “I guess that’s normal though, right? He is their first grandchild and all,” I chuckle, but I am nervous now. I stop talking because it’s getting a bit uncomfortable here.

I about fall off the couch when Hunter’s next words hit my ears.

“I was pregnant a few years ago.” She is playing again with the fringes around the hole in her jeans, and I am frozen in place.

I don’t know what to do. What to say. Do I have to say anything? I am so not good in situations like the one I just landed myself in. I can tell that Hunter is hurting, and I have no idea how to make her feel better about it.

“What happened?” I finally croak out. I can only assume that she wants to talk about it since she brought it up.

“I was home for the summer right before I graduated college. I was…” she hesitates like she’s not sure how to word what she’s got going on in her head. “I was in a relationship. But I didn’t tell anyone.”

My mind is going crazy trying to remember what the hell I was doing seven years ago when Hunter was home right before graduating college in New York. I was home as well that summer, excited to have finally finished my freshman year of college up in Wisconsin. Did we see each other much that summer? We both attended family barbeques at either her parents’ house or mine, but I don’t remember her ever bringing anyone to either.

“I had a miscarriage,” she now tells me in a flat tone. The gasp I let out escapes me before I can stop it. I bring a shaky hand up and cover my lips. “After I went back to New York,” she shrugs like all that happened was normal.

“I’m so sorry, Slayer,” her father’s nickname slips out again, and she gives me a sad smile, but then shrugs again.

“It’s all water under the bridge now anyway. And my parents never knew, so please don’t…” She darts a hand out toward the front door like her parents are standing there. “Don’t tell them about this. Or your parents. You know they talk,” she chuckles sadly.

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