Page 27 of Marry Your Best Friend

I smile and wave at her and then walk out of the lounge. The whole way through the hospital and into the parking lot, Gabe is holding my hand. It’s not until he’s leading me to his truck that I remember my car is here. “My car is over in the employee parking.”

He opens his truck door, picks me up, and sets me in the seat. “I’ll take care of your car.”

“But—” I start, and he doesn’t let me get it all out.

“Chrissy, please, let me do this for you, okay? This is what I need… please?”

I nod, and he puts the seat belt around me and buckles it, shuts my door, and then walks around to his side of the truck.

We ride in silence into Whiskey Run. It’s a thirty-minute ride from the hospital, and it gives me way too much time to think. I’m overwhelmed, thinking of all of it. It’s not until we get to King’s house and are about to pull into the driveway that I tell Gabe what has been on my mind. “Thank you for not listening to me last night.”

He slowly pulls into the driveway and parks toward the end of the driveway. It looks like all my brothers are already here. “When I told you I thought we should take a break. I couldn’t handle this without you.”

Gabe turns off his truck and twists in his seat to look at me. “Honey, there’s not going to be a break for us. And we’re going to handle this together, okay?”

I sniff, trying to hold back the tears. “Okay.”

He gets out of the truck and comes around to help me out. He holds my hand the whole way inside, and as soon as we get through the door, King, Holden, and Dom are coming toward us.They each hug us, and I’m trying to hold back the tears, but no matter what, I can’t do it. They start to fall freely, and I’m back in Gabe’s arms.

We all gather in the living room, sitting on the couches. Haven, Cat, and Luciana are in and out, taking care of all of us, bringing us food and drinks while we reminisce about Ledger.

From the time I was eight, I don’t have a childhood memory that doesn’t have Ledger in it. He was probably the wildest one of all of us, and when he went into the Army, it made him grow up fast. But when he was with us, he was the Ledger we all grew up with. He was the jokester and the instigator. He was the most competitive of all of us, even more than Dom and Holden, which is saying something.

Gabe is sitting next to me, his hand on my back. We’re squished next to each other on the couch, but neither one of us seems to want any distance between us.

Holden leans up in his chair. “Do you remember when Chrissy went on her first date at the movies? What were you, fifteen or sixteen?”

I laugh, thinking back on it. “Sixteen, and that was not a date.”

As if just remembering it, Dom laughs. “Ohyeah, that was hilarious. It was with that twerp… what was his name?”

“Miller, and he wasn’t a twerp. He was captain of the chess team.”

King laughs. “Yeah, by the end of the night, I felt sorry for the dude.”

I nod in agreement. “You should have felt sorry for him. He had no idea what he was getting into.”

Dom waves his hand in front of his face. “Come on, it wasn’t that bad.”

I lean forward. “Ledger was on leave, and when he found out you guys were”—I hold my hands up to make quote symbols—“‘letting me’ go on a date with someone, he freaked out. He had been in the Army for three years by then, and he was all jacked. He answered the door and scared the crap out of Miller. And then when all of you showed up to the movies and sat right behind us, he was literally shaking.”

Holden starts laughing. “He was so nervous he spilled his Coke all over you and then ran out of the movie theater because he was scared Ledger was going to kick his ass for ruining your dress.”

I lean back on the couch, and Gabe’s hand moves to my shoulder. “Yeah, and I didn’t get askedout again all through high school. You all ruined my dating life.”

King just cracks his knuckles. “I wouldn’t change a thing, sis.”

“I was mad then, but looking back on it, I’m thankful I had all you guys looking out for me. I wish…” I let my voice trail off, but Gabe’s not going to let me keep it in.

He squeezes my shoulder. “You wish what?”

I shrug and look down at my hands in my lap. “I wish Ledger was here, bossing me around and telling me what to do.”

Gabe releases his hold on my shoulder and brings his hand to mine. He threads our fingers together and rests our hands on my thigh. A calm comes over me, and I lean my head on his shoulder. After the stress from last night and then working most of the day, and now everything with Ledger, I’m feeling the exhaustion. I burrow into Gabe and wonder if I can convince him to stay with me because I have no doubt the nightmares are going to come back tonight.

12

GABE

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