“Thanks, Gabi. You’re the best,” Ava said, her tears free-flowing.
“You are strong and amazing and I love you, Av. Those kids are beyond lucky to have you as their awesome mom,” Gabi said, finally coaxing a smile out of her friend.
“I don’t feel very strong,” she whispered.
“But you are. I promise you that,” Gabi said.
“I’m so glad you’re here. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“Well, then it’s a good thing you won’t have to find out.”
“I’m glad you’ve been able to tolerate Max.”
“He’s not here a lot.”
Ava laughed softly. “He’s not as bad as you think.”
“He’s good with the kids,” Gabi said, refusing to acknowledge that he wasn’t a complete pain in the ass. She wondered if she should lay off giving him such a hard time, but he knew exactly what buttons to push to make her insane.
“He’s going to be such a great dad one day. I can’t wait,” Ava said, picking up her wineglass again and taking a sip.
Gabi didn’t want to talk about Max, but whatever Ava needed right now, Gabi wouldn’t object, even if the subject was Ava’s annoying brother.
A wave of guilt washed over her. Not because of Max, but because she was the reason Ava had met Greg. He’d been a TA for one of Gabi’s college classes, some stupid core class that she couldn’t even remember. Ava had met her outside of class one day and Gabi had introduced her to Greg.
Ava had fallen fast, and Gabi had no idea what kind of man Greg apparently was. She was still in shock trying to process what Ava had told her. As awful as losing a spouse was, to have it happen like that without getting questions answered, Gabi couldn’t even imagine.
She wanted to nut punch Greg, to rail at him for disrespecting her best friend, but she pushed down her fury and focused on Ava. That was the only thing that mattered now: being there for her best friend.
She pulled Ava back into a hug, and her friend sank against her.