Page 15 of The Affair
He’d met someone.
He’d moved on. It seemed there’d been a lot of that going on lately.
Suddenly not in the mood for coffee, my stomach turning more sour by the second, I turned and bolted for the antique store. I didn’t bother checking to see if the mystery woman saw me.
There was a reason I never walked down this street.
Too many memories.
Too much pain.
And right now, I’d had enough of both.
* * *
I was walking so fast,my escape from the little white house my top priority, that I nearly ran into him.
When the sun caught that familiar dark hair, my heart sank to my feet.Could this day get any worse?
“What are you doing here, Re—”
“Are you going to change the name?” the man asked, turning around to reveal it wasn’t my cheating ex at all, as I’d thought.
It was his older brother, Sawyer.
Not a vast improvement, but at least I could delay the uncomfortablewho’s that woman you’re hooking up withconversation just a little bit longer.
Hell, with some stealthy dodging and weaving, I might be able to avoid it for a long time. Maybe forever.
“What are you doing here, Sawyer?” I asked as he stepped aside to allow me to unlock the store. “And what do you mean, am I going to change the name?”
He followed me in, his eyes lingering on me as I moved. It always unnerved me how much the Gallagher brothers looked alike. Same build, same chiseled jawline, and same mesmerizing green eyes.
Unnervedmaybe wasn’t the right word, but I’d definitely noticed it, growing up.
As much as I’d tried not to.
I forced myself to look away and look busy, still confused as to why he was here. I hadn’t seen my ex-brother-in-law in a while, not since Reed and I were together. Sure, I’d seen him around, but face-to-face?
It’d been a long time. We had never been close.
“Your folks named the place Timeless Treasures, didn’t they?”
I nodded.
“So, now that the place is yours, are you going to give it a new name? Something flashy and updated, like maybe The Retro Emporium?”
I really hoped the blank look on my face told him exactly what I thought of that name suggestion. Just in case it didn’t though, I answered, “That’s truly terrible. Did that take long to think up?”
A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “Not too long, no.”
“So, you heard about the change in ownership then?” I asked, finally putting two and two together. I’d wondered how long it would take for my mother’s departure to make it around town.
“Yeah. How are you holding up with everything? I’m sorry about your dad. He was a good guy.”
I nodded. “I’m okay,” I replied. “We were prepared for him to pass, so it made it easier.”
That was a lie. It hadn’t helped. Not at all. I still missed him every damn day. But I’d found that most people didn’t actually want a straightforward answer. Most people didn’t want to know that grief was so consuming that it hurt down to the marrow of your soul, and most days, it was a struggle to get out of bed. But you did every day because going through the motions, keeping yourself busy, that was the only thing preventing you from being swallowed by it.
