Page 136 of The Love Haters

“You lied to me?” Hutch said. “About Katie?”

Cole was maybe trying to shift gears a little too fast. “But that’s good news, right?” He gestured my way, like I was a brand-new car. “She’s available!”

If Hutch thought it was good news, he didn’t care. “You asshole!” he shouted, tackling Cole, and before the words were even spoken, the boys were on the ground.

I was on my feet in an instant, thinking I should stop them.

But Rue put her hand out to hold me back.

“Shouldn’t we do something?” I asked Rue.

“Let’s give them a minute.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “We tried so hard to give you a good anniversary day.”

“This is more important than that,” Rue said.

We watched them on the grass. It wasn’t a choreographed fight like you’d see in a movie. It was messy, and sideways. And full of grunts and elbows and kicks. No satisfyingSMACK!sound effects, either. Just breathing, and cursing paired with thuds, and cuffs, and gasps, over and over in that order.

“Should we call the cops?” I asked Rue.

She shook her head. “They’ll tire themselves out soon enough.”

“I do think Hutch could really kill Cole.”

“He could, but he won’t.”

I don’t think I’d ever seen grown men fight in real life. How did anyone even win? Did they just thrash in the grass until they got tired?

Whatever winning might be, it seemed like a foregone conclusion—just based on body mass alone. I mean, Cole wasn’t a weakling. But working out waspart of Hutch’s job description.

They really were fighting. My money was on Hutch, of course, but we all watched as Cole landed punch after punch to his torso that didn’t seem to have any impact.

“This is good for them,” Rue said. “They’ve been ignoring each other for too long. They need to yell and wrestle and clear the air.”

“You’re not going to stop them?”

“Not unless someone bursts an artery.”

“But…” It felt so weird not to intervene. “Aren’t we all supposed to use our words?”

Rue nodded, watching the boys. “Sometimes words aren’t quite enough.”

THEY DID, EVENTUALLY,tire themselves out.

By the time they were done fighting—breathless and bleeding, ripped and grass-stained—Cole and Hutch were so exhausted, they wound up lying on their backs with their limbs splayed out, staring up at the starry sky.

And we all—Rue, The Gals, Sullivan, and I—got quiet to eavesdrop.

“What the hell, Cole?” Hutch said. “Why would you lie to me about Katie?”

“I regretted it as soon as I did it,” Cole said, “if that helps.”

“It doesn’t.”

“You’d said no over and over for the ‘Day in the Life’ thing. I wanted to get you to say yes. And I knew you felt so guilty about what happened at the wedding, you’d do anything I asked.”

“Two things,” Hutch said then. “I never felt guilty about what happened at the wedding—becauseI didn’t do anything wrong. And I have always been willing to do anything you asked, anyway.”

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