Page 121 of Just One of the Groomsmen
“That’shorrible. Even worse than I imagined.”
Addie shrugged. “You get used to it.”
Lexi wrinkled her nose and shoved the bottle at Addie. “No thank you.”
After everything that’d happened, Addie hadn’t expected to be able to laugh.
She sank into her couch cushions as a maelstrom of emotions hit her, the sad and happy fronts meeting and leaving a tropical storm with the kind of hail that cracked windshields.
The cushions shifted as Lexi propped her elbow on the back of the couch. “I’m sure he cares about you—I can see it in the way he looks at you. That’s why I kept pushing for you to say something.”
“Then we both said something, and we took a risk, and now that our friendship is in ruins, I’m not sure it was worth it. Everything’s broken, and it feels like the kind of broken that can’t be fixed. How can we ever come back from this?”
“That’s what people say after every bad hurricane that hits. Then we rebuild and we do.”
“I get what you’re sayin’, but the hurricanes have never been our friends. They haven’t cozied up and promised it’d be okay before suddenly changing course and laying waste to everything.” Addie pinched the bridge of her nose. “Oh jeez, now I’m getting all sappy and overly dramatic, and I’m glad you’re the only one here to witness it.”
Lexi wrapped her in a side hug. “It’s okay. I promise to never reveal that Addison Murphy not only has emotions but actually lets them out once in a while.”
The half-laugh, half-sob thing happened again, accompanied by a snort.
Addie drank another glug of Jack, and then Lexi took the smallest sip before reaffirming her stance against it and opening the wine.
In a shocking move, she didn’t bother with a glass, either. Simply tapped the bottle to Addie’s and downed a healthy gulp.
Addie picked at the label with her nail. “I know Tucker cares about me. There are years and years of history and ups and downs where he was there for me. He sometimes gets protective to the point someone should protecthimbecause I’m considerin’ throttling him, and he claims he just wants what’s best for me. I get all that. But I could tell the thought of at least tryin’ a long-distance relationship never occurred to him, and then he tells me he can’t get serious anyway, like we weren’t serious. As if that wasn’t enough, he gives me some spiel about having a certain amount of money in the bank before he settles down. Like I’m the kind of girl who’d demand financial security from a guy instead of taking care of myself.
“I actually considered skipping the interview so I wouldn’t have to choose the job over him. My family factored into that, too, but leaving him behind was my first thought.”
The giant lump she’d finally managed to rid herself of lodged in her throat again.
“And it was his last,” she continued. “I know he’d never move back to the city, either. I just thought…” Her lungs tightened, deflating instead of filling with air, and pain radiated through her chest. “But he doesn’t want me. Not for good, not to settle down with. In the end, all the reasons I worried that he wouldn’t came true.”
“Oh, hon,” Lexi said, and she covered Addie’s hand with hers. “I wish I knew what to say. I’m still sort of holding out hope that he’ll burst in at any moment and tell you he’s been a complete idiot.”
The knock at the door made both of them jump. Addie shot to her feet, her heart pounding with so much hope—too much.
Then Shep walked in.
He strode over, still favoring his right ankle, gave her a hug so tight her feet left the ground, and asked, “You okay?”
Addie squeezed him back, the crack that’d formed inside her filling in a bit when Lexi turned the hug into a group one.
“Hey, babe?” Lexi asked. “Were you limping?”
“I, uh. Funny story…”
A loud knock cut him off, then Ford barreled inside like he’d been called over for some type of emergency. He glanced from Addie to Lexi and Shep, back to Addie. “I came to check in. And to give you shit about Bama, you traitor.”
Right now, Addie needed someone to treat her like she wasn’t fragile, same as she’d needed the talk and drinks with Lexi and the hug from Shep. “Don’t act like you won’t be begging me to sneak you in and meet the players.”
“The cheerleaders maybe. Probably getting a little too old for that, though.” Ford crossed the room and squeezed her shoulder. She knew what he was asking, even if he didn’t say the words.
“I’m okay,” she said, and she prayed that if she said it enough, maybe one day she would be.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Flash tugged on the leash as Tucker walked across the town square. While his puppy was forever in a hurry to get to wherever they were going, lately Tucker didn’t feel excited enough to rush anywhere. Or to even get out of bed in the morning.
