Page 51 of The Forever Game

Mikayla arrives at the rehearsal dinner looking so stunning my chest hurts. Her hair’s up in a stylized ponytail thing, and she’s got these long, dangly earrings swishing against her shoulders. And then there’s the dress—holy fuck, the dress! It’s midnight blue, hugging her curves in all the right ways and only just covering her ass. I’m mesmerized by her hips, watching them sway as she walks toward me. Then I glance up at her face and the air gets stolen right out of my lungs.

Damn, I’ve missed her. It’s been a shitty couple days in Nolan without her, and although we’ve texted a few times, we haven’t spoken, and the stone in my stomach is getting heavier by the day.

She gives me a brief, closed-mouth smile, adjusting her dress as she walks toward me. She’s in heels, so I don’t have to bend down so far to kiss her. My hand trails along her curves, lightly squeezing her ass as we pull back from the kiss.

“Hey.” Her eyes dart up to mine, then quickly away.

Shit, I shouldn’t have just left her the way I did—the note on the table was a bit of a dick move—but I was pissed. And it’s not like she’s apologized for saying she’d be home and then not communicating with me at all. Does she expect me to just sit around the house waiting for her all the time?

Regret and anger vie for top position in my chest, and I don’t know which to settle on.

Her small fingers thread between mine, and she pulls me into the restaurant before I can tell her how pretty she looks.

Fuck. What is happening to us?

We’re physically connected, yet I’ve never felt so far from her.

Our relationship has always been this fun, upbeat thing… and I hate the place we’re in right now. There’s no laughter and teasing. Fuck, we’re barely smiling at each other. And it’s all because of her fucking job. It’s stealing my wife away, and it kills me that I don’t know how to stop it.

“Yay, you made it.” Tammy laughs, pulling Mikayla in for a hug. “You look so freaking gorgeous!”

Mikayla smiles at her, brushing her hand through the air with a “this old thing?” expression on her face.

Tammy shakes her head. “Don’t go selling yourself short. You’re hot, girl. Own it.”

Dipping her hip with a little laugh, she takes the compliment, but I can tell she’s tense. I miss my girl. How the fuck do I get her back?

“Mick.” Rachel glides over, her long dress billowing out around her legs as she walks our way. She pulls her friend into a tight hug, and they murmur shit I can’t hear.

I turn, raising my chin at Casey, who beckons me over to his table.

The guys have been a great support the last couple days. I opened up a little before Baxter’s bachelor party, which kind of put a downer on things, but I solved that problem by getting rip-roaring drunk and waking up in the Ponderosa pool house with a monster headache and pretty blurry memories of the night before.

Liam was kind enough to feed me Advil and water for the morning. Rachel made me this weird-ass smoothie that was green but tasted okay. I was feeling semi-coherent by lunchtime and decided to hang with Asher and Lani for a bit, but then I spent the whole time watching the irritating smiles they kept giving each other. They have some secret joke or something between them, and it’s really starting to grate on my nerves. It’s like they’re more loved up than the last time I saw them, and it’s pissing me off because I’ve never felt so distant from Mikayla, and she’s mywife. Asher and Lani aren’t even fucking engaged, let alone married!

Fuck!

Slumping back in my chair, I try to hide the torrent ripping through me. I can play pretend, right? No one needs to know that Mick and I are struggling. It’s just a phase, isn’t it? Once she finally gets her head on straight and quits this damn job, we’ll find our mojo again.

What if she never quits?

My insides pinch into a painful knot, and it’s an effort to raise my lips into a smile when she finally takes a seat next to me. She took her sweet time, talking to Rachel for ages until Liam arrived.

I snatch my chance to connect with her and softly whisper against her ear, “Rachel all good? I noticed some tension between her and Caroline.”

“Baby stuff,” she mouths, and I know better than to ask for details right now. Poor Liam and Rachel have been trying for years, while Casey and Caroline are popping out babies left and right.

Liam did mention that they’re looking into adoption, but I haven’t heard the latest. He texted before to say he was running late, and now that he’s here, I want to ask him more. “Work emergency” was all Rachel could tell me when I arrived at the restaurant.

She didn’t seem too flustered by it. I guess she’s used to him working overtime. So why the hell do I get so bothered by Mick’s overtime?

Because she doesn’t get paid for it.

Because Liam’s a cop and doesn’t have control over when people decide to be idiots. It’s not like he can walk away from an emergency. Mick doesn’t have emergencies at her job!

Waiters start bringing out food, and I pick at my meal. I want to devour this shit because it’s delicious, but my stomach is too tense. Mikayla seems to be the same and even offers me a roast potato off her plate. She’s barely touched a quarter of the food, but I shake my head. She frowns at my refusal. When am I not stealing food off her plate?

When my insides feel like one giant ball of knots. That’s when.

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