Page 29 of Offside Angel

My heart swells. “Zane deserves this. After the last couple weeks, I’m glad to see him like this.”

I realize what I said when the silence descends upon us. I tiptoed too close to the elephant no one wants to mention.

“Sorry,” I mutter. “I made it awkward.”

Taylor wraps an arm around my shoulders. “No, you didn’t. I just didn’t want to agree and make you feel like I’m piling on, but… yeah. The last two weeks have been hell for Zane. Daniel was seriously worried about him.”

“Jace, too,” Rachelle agrees with a wince. “Even Gallagher asked me what was wrong with Aiden. They were hurting without you, Mira.”

My chin wobbles, and I bite down hard on the corner of my mouth to keep it together. “Things might not be much better for them now that I’m back.”

Jemma opens her mouth to say something, but it’s drowned out by a chant coming from the living room.

“Ice cream! Ice cream! Ice cream!” Daniel has Aiden on his shoulders and the men are marching towards the kitchen like marauding Vikings.

As Zane pulls a carton of ice cream from the freezer, I sneak up behind him. “Should I expect a unicorn within the hour?”

He shakes his head, but can’t hide his smile. “Apparently. Right before the candy and flying lessons start.”

Ice cream is doled out and, by the time people are scraping their bowls clean, Aiden is nodding off at the island.

“Time for someone to hit the hay.” Zane scoops him up and uses Aiden’s hand to give everyone a limp wave. “Tell everyone goodbye, buddy.”

Aiden mumbles something, but his eyes are already slipping closed.

I watch the two of them disappear down the hall.

Then, like a switch has been flipped, the mood in the room plummets. It was all fun and laughing and chit-chat for two hours, but now, everyone is staring at their feet and drumming fingers on knees. Even Daniel can’t manage to break the tension. Or, he doesn’t want to.

My guess is the latter.

Finally, I clear my throat. “I know you’re all here because of me, and I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” Taylor asks. “It’s not like Zane put a gun to our heads. We wanted to come.”

“We missed you,” Jemma agrees.

The men all nod and give tight smiles.

“I know, but you all got a babysitter for this, right?” I look from Jemma to Rachelle. “Zane didn’t tell me he was planning anything, and I feel bad that you all wasted a night coming to check on me. I’m fine.”

Daniel slaps his knee. “You should apologize, dammit! What a miserable night I’ve spent hanging out with my best friends and eating junk food. It’s been a nightmare.”

I roll my eyes. “You know what I mean.”

“I don’t think we do.” Jace shrugs. “We all wanted to come here tonight, Mira. Not just to see if you were alright?—”

“Though we’re glad you are!” Rachelle cuts in.

“—but to make sure we’re alright, too,” Jace carries on. “It sucked when you disappeared. It was scary.”

“So, so scary.” Rachelle squeezes Jace’s hand and I can see tears in her eyes. “No one knew what happened, but with the way Zane was acting…”

“We knew it was bad,” Reeves finishes when Rachelle gets choked up.

Daniel nods. “I’ve never seen him like that.”

I shift my gaze to the floor and don’t know how to lift it again. I was expecting everyone to be annoyed with me, at best. But this is all so much more complicated than I thought it would be. It’s not like when I’d leave town before and get angry calls from a manager pissed I didn’t show up for my shift.

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