Page 39 of Chasing You

“He’s not going to tell anyone. Unbunch your panties,” Bowen said as they were walking out.

“I want this to go well before everyone starts giving their opinions.”

Bowen grabbed his arm and stopped him. “Hey, I get it. Life is already a shitshow as it is, and you don’t need uninvited commentary on all the things you’re doing right or wrong.”

Adele let out a small sigh. That was exactly it. He adored his friends beyond measure, but for the first time in his life, he knew they’d pave the path for him getting in his own way yet again. This was too important to risk.

“Did you decide where you’re going to take him?” Bowen asked as they got to Adele’s car.

He shrugged and looked up at the sky. “He loves boats. I think I’ll take him on the ferry tomorrow out to Cape Andrew. The beach there is really flat. We can goshelling and…I don’t know, pack a picnic like a couple of nerds and hang out with the seabirds.”

“That’s so disgusting,” Bowen said. “And so perfect for you both.”

Adele laughed and rubbed at the back of his neck. “If he turns me down…”

Bowen took him by the shoulders. “He’s not going to turn you down. He doesn’t do that. He’ll go on these dates and tell himself that you’re trying to cheer up a friend. You need to make it romantic. The date isn’t going to do that for you. Effort, Addie.”

Adele nodded and squeezed his eyes shut. “He’s worth it.”

“Yeah, he is. I was fucking devastated when you married someone who wasn’t him. You two were my family, and it felt like you’d split that up. I was so mad at you.”

Adele had no idea about that either. Bowen had been in his young adult angry phase at the time, and he’d assumed his brother was mad at the world. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because I wasn’t going to be the one who destroyed your happy home,” Bowen told him. “If I’d known you married her because you thought Kash was never going to love you back, I would have stopped the wedding when that weird perv-stache priest asked who objected.”

“Or you could have told me sooner so I didn’t have to shell out fifteen grand on that farce,” Adele said.

Bowen laughed. “Your next wedding will be better. And cheaper.”

Adele smiled. “And I already have a wedding planner.”

Laughing again, Bowen shook his head. “Rex will kill you if you use anyone else. Anyway, it’s goingto be fine. Just remember, be more stubborn than him. It’s your one superpower. Lean in.”

Lean in. He could do that. Maybe.

Probably.

He really, really hoped.

ten

KASH

Kash couldn’t besure if Adele’s offer was some sort of universe-sent gift or if Adele was spying on his calls, but his best friend suggested a day at the beach came on the same day that Kash had spent half an hour on the phone with the nurse at the specialist’s office going over his test results.

There was neurological damage, but he’d tested negative for every condition they could think of. He was being officially diagnosed with dystonia due to his head injury at work. There was no cure, but there were treatments, and some patients went into remission for months at a time.

The remission never lasted, but it was something.

“I’ll be emailing some information with a list of specialists you can see closer to home,” she’d told him before hanging up. “You’ll need to make an appointment with a physical therapist as soon as possible, and we’re writing you an updated prescription for a wheelchair with power assist, which you can send to your insurance. They usually cover it.”

Theyusuallycover it. If the disorder was because of hisinjury on the job, all of his treatments would be covered, and that was a triumph in itself. The relief from that was enough to send him into a quiet sobbing fit he buried in his pillow. He wouldn’t go bankrupt trying to live his life.

But he needed to face the reality of the situation: this was permanent. Remissions would last months at a time, but he would spend his entire life facing these ups and downs.

Still, he could let go of the fear he’d been holding on to that it was worse than everyone was predicting. He could properly and truly breathe now.

And then Adele showed up with a hesitant look on his face and a small tremor in his voice and asked Kash if he wanted to go to the beach, and it was almost like the universe was trying to right all the wrongs it had been throwing his way for the last year.

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