Page 110 of Callahan

He reached for my hand.

“But I don’t want to lose you as my friend. Or not be a part of Conor’s life.”

My laugh sounded fake, even to my ears, and I pulled my hand back.

“You’ve probably realized by now that my bark is worse than my bite—”

The side of his mouth hitched as he interrupted me. “There’s nothing wrong with your bite, princess.”

I held up my index finger to stop him. “No. You don’t get to say that anymore.”

“Sorry… continue.”

“Anyway, what I was trying to say was,of coursewe’re going to be friends. And of course you’re going to be involvedin Conor’s life. I mean, he’s why you’ve moved here in the first place.”

He swayed his head back and forth, like he only kind of agreed with my statement.

“Mmm, yes and no. I’ll agree that he’soneof the reasons.”

I didn’t ask what the other reasons were. Partly because I’d be hurt if one of them wasn’t me, and partly because I didn’t know what I’d say if he admitted I was part of his motivation for staying in Haven Springs, but he wasn’t willing to act on it.

“So, we agree—the secret part of our friendship is done.”

I think a tiny part of me still hoped he’d disagree.

His smile was sad when he replied, “Yeah. I think it has to be.”

I nodded, not trusting my words to come as I willed myself not to cry in front of him.

I didn’t know why I was upset. I’d known going into this that things between us would be temporary, at best. Anything after our first time together had been icing on the cake.

But no more cake for me.

In fact, I wasn’t sure when I’d be having dessert again.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Adam

This fucking sucks.

There was really no other way to describe it.

Had Lainey and I met in a different life, under different circumstances, I would have wifed her up so fast, so hard, it wouldn’t have been funny.

Maybe that’s what Shawn had been trying to do when he bought her the ring.

I knew my friend had been a smart man.

But the reality was, she had been my best friend’s girl. And they’d had a baby together. Even though he was gone, I owed him more than getting with his almost-fiancée. It was bad enough we’d had a secret affair. So, I had to come to grips that it wasn’t in the stars for Lainey and me, no matter how much I wished it was.

The best I could do was be a kickass “uncle” to Conor. And die a little inside when the right man came along and swept her off her feet, then became my little man’s stepdad, while I watched from the sidelines.

Me: You got a working treadmill in this place?

Brian: Yeah, in the gym in the basement. Why?

Me: I need to burn off some energy.

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