Page 116 of Bad Luck Club

Blue kept her eyes downcast, staring at her hands clasped in front of her.

“You don’t have to hear him out, Blue,” Cal said, “but remember what we talked about.”

Something else that might as well be in a different language.

In his peripheral vision, he saw Harry nod and lift Buford up slightly as if the rabbit might want to pitch in. “Hedidseem awfully concerned about Buford, and I looked up what he said about rabbits’ back legs dangling.” He shrugged. “Turns out it’s true. Still, it could have been a lucky guess.”

For a second, she looked as lost as Lee felt, but then she gave a slight nod and turned back to Lee. “Okay. Let’s go out on the porch.”

He nodded, relieved that she was willing to at least listen to what he had to say, and followed her out. Then, to his surprise, Augusta, Nicole, and Harry started to join them.

Blue gave them a tight smile. “Could you all give us a little privacy? We’ll come back in when we’re done.”

Lee found hope in the fact that she saidwe.

Augusta grumbled, and Nicole muttered something about letting them watchherat the arboretum, but Blue just gave them a look that strongly suggested she wasn’t changing her mind.

Once they shut the door, Lee took a chance, reaching out for Blue’s hand. Relief poured through him when she didn’t snatch it back. “Blue, first, I owe you amassiveapology. I assumed some pretty awful things about you, and I’m so sorry. Nothing I could tell you would excuse the way I treated you, but I’m begging you to forgive me anyway.”

“I’m so sorry that he pulled you into his manipulations,” she said, pulling her hand away and rubbing a spot just above her browline. “It’s unforgivable. I told my sister a little about you, and my father found out, and I guess he went straight to Remy. The thing is, Lee, in the past I would have assumed all of the guilt for what happened. I would have thought it was my fault, what he did, because that’s what abusers do. They gaslight you into thinking you deserved it. But I had nothing to do with it. Nothing. But you believed that I did.”

The oh-so-familiar ache was back in his chest, and he resisted the urge to rub it. “You have to understand, so many people in my life have turned on me. I guess I expect it now.”

“I wasn’t there to hurt you,” she whispered, as though she had to force out the words.

“I knew that almost as soon as Dottie dragged me away. It’s just…” His shame and humiliation came rushing back. He felt like a failure, but that was nothing compared to how he’d feel if he lost Blue for good. “I was so hurt, Blue. I…I thought you knew my interview was with Remy and that you didn’t say anything because you expected me to fail. And that you only showed up because you were worried I was going to actually get the job.”

She shook her head. “I put it together when you sent me the text with Jeremy’s name, and even then it was just a guess.”

“Yeah,” he said sheepishly, “I figured that out. Belatedly. I didn’t understand how you’d found me either. In my head, I figured Jeremy must have told you.”

“It was Dottie,” she said, sounding resigned. “She tracked you with her friend-finding app.”

“Well, I guess that explains that,” he said, trying to force some humor into his tone and failing miserably.

She didn’t answer.

“When I figured out who Jeremy was…I was horrified. I was embarrassed. I was…”

“Humiliated,” she whispered.

He nodded, grateful she understood but not surprised. Her empathy was only one of the many things he loved about her. “Then you stepped between us, and at first I thought you were protecting him.”

She nodded, a tear streaking down her face. “I know.”

“I wanted to beat the shit out of him.”

Another tear fell. “I know that too.”

His heart was twisting, making it hard to breathe. If she already knew all of that, what could he tell her to make amends? How could he show her how much she meant to him?

“I realize nothing can justify the way I treated you,” he said, not ashamed that he was pleading. “Please forgive me, Blue. Please give me a second chance.”

When he’d played this out in his head, it had gone one of two ways. One, she told him to go to hell and slammed a door in his face. Or two, she forgave him.

He hadn’t anticipated her just standing in front of him, doing nothing.

“I’m not moving back to New York,” he said. “I’m staying in Asheville to work with my family. And it’s not just because I didn’t get the job.” He made a face. “If there was even a job in the first place.”

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