Page 38 of Unbroken

“Sorry,” she muttered when I looked over. “I…uhh—I still can’t believe you’re real. That you’rereallyhere.”

I chuckled. “I understand. It’s still bizarre that I’m here.”

“We’re all glad to have you back,” she said, and it was hard to miss how genuine her words were. “Some of us might take a little more time than others to come around, but I know we all want you here, B. We’ve all been hoping for this for a really long time.”

Emotion clogged my throat, and the sting of unshed tears burned behind my eyes.

“I—” I cleared my throat and tried again. “I?—”

Amanda touched my arm, and I peered up at her from where my eyes had fallen to the floor.

“Just give them a little time. A little patience, and before you know it, it’ll be like no time has passed at all.”

The next thing I knew, Amanda dropped her pool cue and threw her arms around my neck. She had to reach, and it was awkward at first. My initial reaction when someone unexpectedly touched me was to tense and pull away. Sometimes when it happened, my skin felt like it wasn’t sitting correctly in my body, and I wanted to peel it off.

It was even worse if someone surprised me from behind. Butit was Amanda, not some random person, and once my body caught up with my head, I hugged her back. I stooped a little so she didn’t have to reach so high, and as I calmed down, it was actually great.

I didn’t realize she was crying until I heard her sniffle. My heart broke a little at the sound, and I hugged her tighter.

“I missed you, B,” Amanda said into my hair. “I missed my friend.”

EIGHTEEN

Blakely

“Okay,hold on, let me get this straight,” I said as I sipped my third mocktail. Amanda was amused by all my reactions as she told me the major things I’d missed over the past two years.

I’d missed a lot, and we weren’t going to get through everything tonight, but I was eager to know all the same. “You,” I said, pointing at Amanda. “You, Reed, and Josh are all three together. Reed owns his own gym, and Josh runs Murphy’s Law, which the three of you also own.”

Amanda nodded and sipped her own drink.

“But you’re still teaching, right?”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “Whether I admit it or not, I love the little prepubescent psychos.”

“Wow, that’s a lot.”

Ivy, who was not only gorgeous but also kind and hilarious, lifted her eyebrows and glanced at Amanda out of the corner of her eye. I noticed the look and watched Amanda roll her lips, like she was holding back something more.

“I don’t want to get into it tonight,” she said hesitantly. “Butmy brother, Adam, got caught up dealing drugs and ended up owing his boss a crap ton of money. And when his boss realized Adam wasn’t going to pay, he came after Reed. Well, me and Reed, but mostly Reed since he’s the one with the crap ton of money. He held us at gunpoint and everything.”

My jaw dropped, and my palms flattened against the table. We were sitting at one of the many tables surrounding the pool tables where the men and Hazel still played.

“Are you—are you kidding? Amanda, that’s?—”

She waved me off and pushed her empty glass to the center of the table. “We can talk about it another time. Tonight is supposed to be fun, and talking about almost dying isnotfun.”

“Holy shit. Yeah, we definitely will be talking about that later,” I promised, but I let it go as I turned to Ivy. “So, can you tell me about you and James? He was such a workaholic, I can’t believe he was here before seven on a Friday night.”

Ivy chuckled and shook her head, her red hair brushing around her shoulders. “He definitely was a workaholic, but he actually quit his job.”

Again, my jaw dropped, and I nearly choked.

“That was exactly our reaction, too!” Amanda exclaimed. “Ivy is magic.”

Ivy rolled her eyes. “Not magic. He just realized what was important. His job was sucking the life out of him, and he knew it wasn’t worth it anymore.”

“So, you worked here?” I asked. “That’s how you two rekindled?”

---