Page 66 of When We Were Us
“That doesn’t make any sense,” I say it as if I’m trying to convince myself. “That’s ridiculous.” Folding my arms across my middle, I try to make sense of what she’s saying to me.
“Do you remember that first day when you came into the café and told me about what Hank said to you? About cashing out or whatever?”
Cold fingers of nausea wrap around my throat and I nod. “Yes, I remember.”
“And do you remember when you asked me what happened to him?” Her words are stilted, clipped short. “What happened to make him so…” she lifts a shoulder, “different?”
Grumpy.I’d thought he was a grumpy bastard.
I just nod, numbly, because I don’t need her to tell me why; I already know. It doesn’t hurt any less when she says the words.
“It was you, Wren. You left.” She tries to keep the wobble out of her voice, but I can tell it's taking a great effort. It kills me because, after everything, she still doesn’t want to hurt my feelings.
“Oh my God,” I say through fingers raised against my lips, tears springing unbidden to my eyes. I’m too flustered and overwhelmed by what Finn just confirmed that I can’t think straight. I lift my eyes to her and try to suck in a deep breath, but it comes out as a choked hiccup. I can’t breathe.
She doesn’t waste words on a situation that won’t help. So, she just holds onto me as realization sweeps through me. Silent tears spill over my lower lashes and drip onto my sweats as she rubs small circles on my back.
Everything that has happened—every single encounter with Hank—flips through my mind, clicking into place and forming a bird’s-eye view of the last three weeks. Every scowl, every snicker, every caustic word, or snide remark he threw at me runs through my head. It all makes sense. Oh, how he must have despised me.
I think about his concern— No, his anger, the day that he dropped off the bread his mom made for me. How pissed he was when I brushed off his concern about my stupid unlocked doors. How he’d very nearly slipped and told me Iwashis business. The way he’d yanked me against him right there in the kitchen.
The look in his eyes when I’d cried over my grandparents, when—unbeknownst to him—I’d also cried over our lost relationship and the hurt I caused him. How he’d possessively interrupted my dance with Archie last night. How he’d gripped me so tightly behind the bar that Ithought I might have bruises. And how he’d kissed me, touched me,ownedme.
I give a long, unladylike sniff and sit up. Finn pushes my hair back and tucks it behind my ear.
“You ok?” she asks, her bottom lip pushed out in sympathy.
“No,” I say but manage a mirthless laugh, sniffing again.
“I’m sorry, Wren. But I couldn'tnottell you. Especially after last night.”
I shake my head because I don’t want my friend thinking for one minute that she can’t tell me the truth, especially when it's something I am too stupid to see for myself. “No, I’m glad you told me.”
“So, what are you going to do now?”
I meet her gaze as let my shoulders slump forward with a sigh and a shrug. “Clean up some old lady knickknacks?”
We both laugh and she squeezes my hand. “You got it, babe.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
hank
I just finished cleaningand replacing the hay in Apollo’s stall when I hear tires crunching on gravel, followed by two car doors slamming and the soft lilt of female laughter.
“You would have thought you’d never seen a snake before,” says the first voice, and I recognize it as Finn’s.
“Hey, I’m a large animal vet, ok? I don’t do creepy crawlies. Plus, my back and feet were killing me. I was distracted,” comes Wren’s voice with answering laughter.
It’s been three days since that night at the bar. I haven’t spoken to or seen Wren since, but her voice and soft laughter from just outside the stable door goes straight to my gut.
I haven’t intentionally been staying away from her. I wanted to drop everything and go straight to her house multiple times. I’d half expected her to show up at the softball game the next night, but she didn’t, and neither did Finn. Shockingly, Hudson didn’t even mention anything about what he and half the town undoubtedly saw at the bar, so I didn’t bring it up.
And things around here have been nonstop since. Sunday, I spent all day checking fences. After the softball game later that night, I was so damned tired when I got back to my cabin and showered that I could barely keep my eyes open.
Then, yesterday morning, Doc called to let me know Apollo had improved enough that I could come get him. I’d finished up a few things and got him. Once he was home, I stayed with him for most of the day and did a few things around the stables. Then, I had dinner with Hudson, Paige, and my parents.
Even though Wren wasn’t around, she was constantly on my mind. I didn’t have her number, though it would have been easy enough to get between Finn and Hudson. But a part of me wasn’t sure what to say to her, or how to navigate this new territory we had entered.
