They stood there for a moment, gaping at me, then looked at each other before frowning in unison and aiming two dark glares in my direction.
“W-who the hell are you?” the guy practically growled at me.
“Uh, I’m Harry.” I stood from the table and wiped my hand on my jeans before extending it to introduce myself. “Harry Tindal.”
The blonde continued to glare at me, crossing her arms and snapping, “What are doing in this apartment?”
“I’m staying here.” I pointed behind me, at the bed of all things. Granted, a thoughtless move.
The woman’s eyes bulged, her already milky skin paling further. “Who are you!” she yelled, flicking her hands in the air.
“I’m, um, well, I guess you could say I’m Jane’s boyfriend?”
“Her boyfriend?” the girl mimicked me. “Jane doesn’t have a boyfriend.”
“I beg to differ.” I pointed at the horrified couple and let out a breathy laugh that was killed by their unimpressed scowls. “She’s working late tonight and I promised not to disturb her, but I could give her a call if you like, straighten this out?”
I turned to reach for my phone, but the blonde stopped me with a snap of her fingers. “Don’t move. I’ll call her.”
Slipping my hands into my pockets, I tried to give the guy a friendly smile as the woman yanked her phone out of her bag and called Jane.
No dice.
He wasn’t having any of it.
I had no idea who these people were. Jane had mentioned a few friends, but we never got specific. No histories…never thought it would cause any kind of complications, but there they were in dark curls and blonde waves. Staring me down and making me feel like the world’s worst imposter.
Chapter Nineteen
Jane
The phone in my bag started ringing. I’d slipped it away so I couldn’t see it and be tempted to call Harry. I glanced down at my bag and wondered whether to ignore it.
But then he had promised not to call, so there was a good chance it wasn’t him…which probably meant it was my mother. I’d had a breezy conversation with her two days ago, telling her I couldn’t catch up for dinner on the weekend.
“You’re a busy girl this year, darling.”
“I’m just trying to make up for my bad start last year. Give me a few weeks and I’ll make myself available.”
I’d need the company after Harry left anyway.
I sighed and ignored the call, figuring I’d phone back on my way home.
Leaning toward my computer screen, I continued planning out my lessons for the following week when my phone started buzzing again.
I tipped my head to the ceiling. “Oh, come on.”
With a little huff, I pulled out my phone and noted Sarah’s number on the screen.
“Frick,” I muttered. I hadn’t spoken to my best friend since Harry arrived. If anyone was going to get the truth out of me, it’d be her, and for some reason, I didn’t want her knowing.
I didn’t understand why.
Maybe because she was married to Blake’s brother, or maybe because the four of us used to be inseparable and it felt weird bringing a new person into the mix. Whatever it was, I’d been avoiding her, and she’d obviously had enough.
Biting my lips together, I rubbed my thumb down the side of my phone, seriously considering ignoring her, but I didn’t want her to worry.
I held my breath and answered, making sure a smile was in place by the time the phone was pressed against my ear.
“Hey, Sparky. How’s it going?”
“There’s a man in your apartment. He says he’s your boyfriend. You have about thirty seconds to verify this or I’m calling the cops.”
I nearly dropped the phone. My heart jumped into my throat and started hammering, making it really hard to talk.
With a little splutter, I managed, “What—what are you doing in my apartment?”
“Really? That’s your question?” Sarah’s voice pitched high. “I just told you there’s a stranger in your house!”
“He’s…not a stranger,” I finished in a barely audible whisper. Clearing my throat, I tried for redirection again. “Why are you there?”
“Because you’re my best friend and I care about you! You’ve basically gone off-grid since you got back from Europe, and I wanted to pop by and make sure you were okay!”
“I am. I’m fine. I’m great.”
“You are in so much trouble right now,” she warned. “Seriously, how could you not tell me you had a boyfriend?”
“I…well, I just…”
“Get your butt home right now!”
“Why don’t we catch up this weekend and I can…”
“I am not leaving this guy alone in your apartment.”
Drooping my head with a sigh, I muttered, “Okay, fine. I’m coming. Just be nice until I get there. He’s a really great guy.”
Sarah responded by hanging up on me, a true sign of just how pissed she was.
Wincing with a hiss, I packed up my stuff, urging myself to hurry. Poor Harry was probably getting the cold stare from my bestie, and although she’s usually a happy ray of sunshine, she’s pretty good at the icy stare-down.
As I scrambled to pack away my things, I imagined the scenario. Harry squirming in his bare feet while Sarah clipped around him in some gorgeous pair of heels she’d probably found at some rare shoe shop while researching for her next wedding client.
Rushing to my car, I drove the fastest way home, only getting caught briefly in the tail end of rush-hour traffic. Thirty minutes later, I was walking in my apartment door, shocked to find Justin there as well.
Blake’s brother.
I wondered what he thought about all this.
From the grim look on his face, not much. In fact, he looked a mix of highly unimpressed and maybe a little wounded.
They all turned to look at me. Harry’s eyes rounded with a get me the hell out of this kind of plea. I gave him a weak smile and cleared my throat as I placed my bag on the floor.
“So, I take it you’ve met?” I inched across to him while scratching my forearm and avoiding eye contact.
Sarah’s icy blues were stripping me bare. “Yeah. We’ve met.”
I forced a smile but it didn’t quite rise. Sarah’s glare switched to dismay, matching her husband perfectly. “How could you not tell me about this?”
“I’m sorry. I…” I pointed at Harry then back to her. “We met while I was in England and he came with me to France and…”
“You told me you were traveling alone!”
“I didn’t think you’d be cool with the fact I was tripping around Europe with a guy I barely knew. You were dealing with your stuff.” I pointed between her and Justin, ignoring Harry’s confused expression. “And I was trying to deal with mine.”
Sarah’s lips spread into a stubborn line. “You should have told me.”
I looked away from her, my jaw working to the side before I managed to whisper, “How?”
Her eyes glassed with tears, and she blinked then looked across to Justin. He walked over to her, gently rubbing her shoulders and kissing the side of her head.
Harry still looked confused, and I didn’t have it in me to try to explain it all. I couldn’t go into Blake’s death and Justin and Sarah’s almost divorce. I didn’t want to relive it again.
An awkward, horrible silence descended on the room, and I wasn’t sure how to fix it.
I kind of wanted them to leave. I felt awful for thinking that, because Sarah was my best friend, but Harry hadn’t touched my past. He didn’t know about Blake. The only stories he knew were ones from my childhood—safe ones that caused laughter, not tears.
I didn’t want my past tainting what we had, but did that mean excluding people I cared about?
Sensing Harry’s gaze on me, I turned to him with a hopeless smile. He gave me a sad, closed-mouth grin. Then with his usual charm, he killed the silence.
His hands made a loud
snap as they clapped together. Everyone flinched and stared at him.
“I don’t know about you guys, but this oppressive silence is getting kind of heavy. So, as awkward as it will no doubt be, why don’t you lovely people stay for dinner? I’ll even let you interrogate me so you can work out whether I’m good enough for your sweet Jane. Not sure which one of you is going to play bad cop, but I promise I’ll be as honest as I can be. No nastiness required.” He winked at Sarah, who was contemplating a bemused smile—I could tell by the wrinkling of her forehead.
Justin was still pretty reticent, but he finally gave in with a short nod and mumbled, “I’ll order Indian.”
“Fab. I love a good chicken tikka masala.” Harry grinned.
Justin gave him an odd look before pulling out his phone and turning away to order.
Sarah, although cautious, seemed to relax a little and shuffled over to the table. Pulling out one of the three chairs, she sat and gave me a pointed look.
I bit back my smile, finding her motherly glares somewhat amusing now that the tense fog had lifted. Taking a seat beside her, it occurred to me that we’d be one chair short. It made my throat restrict. Since moving in, I’d only ever had two visitors at a time—my parents or Justin and Sarah. Much to my depression, I’d never needed a fourth chair.
But right then, I did.
I couldn’t decide how I felt about that.
Harry closed his laptop and slipped it into his bag by the bed. Sarah watched him, her eyes darting to the bed before back to me.
Oh man, I had so much to tell her.
We used to talk about everything until Blake died and it all changed. I turned into a robot, she turned into a workaholic, and then all that shit went down between her and Justin, nearly killing their marriage. The last year had been nothing but a suck-fest. That was why I’d wanted the new year to be fresh and untainted.
I didn’t want the old to mar it, but I couldn’t just turn my back on Sarah, which meant the old would somehow have to find a place in my new life.
My heart hitched, my breathing growing rapid as Blake came to the forefront of my mind. I told him he’d be with me forever. But where’d he been the last week while I was making love to Harry and pretending like my soul mate didn’t matter anymore?
Confusion made me frown and I scratched at the tabletop, unsure what to say.
Justin slid the phone back into his pocket and walked to the table. Nudging Sarah’s arm, he quietly encouraged her to stand before slipping into her chair then nestling her on his knee. They shared a sweet look that I hadn’t seen in a long time. It had more depth now. Nearly losing each other had brought them to a stronger place, and I could see the bond between them.
“So, would anyone like a drink?” Harry hovered behind me, still sounding a little nervous. “Tea? Beer? Wine?”
“Wine,” Sarah and I said in unison.
We couldn’t help sharing a brief smile before I glanced over my shoulder and spoke to Harry. “I think there’s a red in the cupboard by the fridge.”
“Got it.” He puttered around behind me while I cautiously looked back at my friends.
We still weren’t talking and it felt weird. Chatting with Sarah was usually as easy as breathing, but that was before I’d gone behind her back and fallen in love with a guy she didn’t even know about.
Fallen in love.
Had I?
Was I?
Harry returned to the table, placing down a teacup and three wine glasses. He poured a generous amount into each glass then filled his teacup.
Lifting it, he proposed a quick toast. “To awkward conversations that will hopefully not end in my death or banishment.”
I snorted and started to laugh as I raised my glass and decided…
Yes, I had fallen in love.
Harry made it impossible not to.
Chapter Twenty
Harry
In spite of the awkward start, I called our dinner with Justin and Sarah a success. Jane and I told them all about our trip. It was easy to go into detail, so many happy memories to recall. I then learned all about their wedding business, and I was even able to give Justin some tips on his website design.
It was nearly eleven o’clock.
Justin and I were sitting in front of my laptop looking at his website while Jane and Sarah giggled over dishes in the kitchen. “Counting Stars” was playing from Jane’s portable speaker, and the girls started singing it together.
I glanced over at them. Jane and I had sung a lot in Nan’s little Bambino, and the sound of her voice always made my insides warm.
I felt Justin’s tension beside me and glanced back at him.
He’d been guarded the whole night, and I couldn’t figure out why. I wasn’t dumb enough to miss the fact that certain things hadn’t been said. Throughout the meal, the three had shared frequent looks filled with meaning I didn’t understand. Justin seemed to not mind me but something held him back, and rather than trying to guess, I decided to be bold and outright ask him.
“I get the distinct impression that you don’t want to like me. Not that I’m here to impress you, but is there something I’m missing? Do I smell bad? Or is it my accent that puts you off?”
After a beat that felt way too long, he let out a breathy snicker and shook his head. “I-I’m sorry. It’s j-just gonna take me s-some time to adjust to you.”
“Right. And that’s because…”
Justin’s forehead wrinkled with confusion. “You don’t know?”
“I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be looking at you like this if I did.”
“H-how can you…” He shook his head. “It was s-such a big part of her life and she n-never said anything?”
I cleared my throat, his foreboding tone making my stomach coil. “Jane needed our trip to be nothing but fun, so we said no histories. I never expected to fall in love with her, and when I came over here, I didn’t know how things would unfold. I guess I was kind of hoping history wasn’t necessary to move forward.”
Justin scoffed, anger taking the edge off his stutter. “Right, so we just pretend like he never existed? Nice.”
His sharp, snappy tone made me flinch.
Never existed?
The inkling I’d been fighting surged forward. I glanced over my shoulder to stare at the guitar.
“Who was he?” I whispered.
Letting out a slow sigh, Justin waited until I was facing him before telling me everything I didn’t want to know. “He was my brother, B-Blake. He got together with Jane in college and they were p-perfect. Everything was perfect,” he murmured, and then his lips dipped into a sad frown. “Until he d-died…just before their wedding.”
I closed my eyes, feeling sick as Justin muttered something about an accident. He didn’t go into detail, and I didn’t want to ask. My ears were ringing, turning his explanation to fuzz.
Staring across the room at Jane, I felt her pain like it was my own.
She’d lost the love of her life…just like I had.
I couldn’t talk much after that. As soon as the dishes were done, Sarah was ready to leave, and it was an effort forming a smile as I said goodbye to the couple.
Pulling the tea towel off her shoulder, Jane hung it over the oven door and gave me a relieved smile. “That went better than I expected. Thank God! You were amazing and brilliant and…” Her voice petered off as she caught sight of my face. “What’s wrong?”
I couldn’t hide it from her.
I didn’t even want to.
“Justin told me about Blake.”
Jane blanched then spun to scowl at the door. “He had no right to do that.”
“I needed to know.”
“No!” She spun back to face me, anguish bunching her cheeks and making her eyes glassy. “We said no histories!”
“Yeah, when it was a two-week holiday and I never thought I’d fall in love with you.” I stepped toward her, my voice soft with sympathy. “Jane, that must have nearly killed you.�
��
“Yes. It did,” she clipped. “And I can’t think about it. I can’t bring him into this room with us.” Tears slid down her cheeks as she tapped her chest. “He’ll always own a piece of my soul, and I don’t know how to let you both in. I don’t know how to do this.” Her voice pitched high, fear whisking away her last few words.
Gently touching her shoulder, I ran my hand down to her elbow then guided her to my chest. She sucked in a ragged breath, resting her cheek against me. Her tears dribbled onto my shirt as I held the side of her head and brushed my lips across her forehead.
“I get it, Jane. I understand.”
“Do you?” She ripped out of my embrace, shoving me away from her. “Really? Do you know what it’s like to have your heart ripped out of your chest? To lose someone you thought you’d be with for the rest of your life?”
“Yes.” I could barely choke out the word.
She froze, her green eyes vibrant as she waited for an explanation I never wanted to give her.
Would she still want me to stay if she knew the truth?
Swallowing down the thick lump in my throat, I began in a husky voice that gave away how close to the surface my pain still was. “I lost my girlfriend. We had a fight. I wouldn’t do what she wanted me to. I told her maybe we needed a little space to figure it out, assuming that we’d both go blow off some steam then say sorry and talk…and kiss…and keep going.” My eyes began to burn, and I squeezed them shut. “She slammed out of the apartment and tore away in her car…and never made it back.” My voice began to tremble. “I switched off my phone because I didn’t want to argue anymore. I… It was hours, and then when I turned it back on it rang straightaway. The police had been trying to get in touch to tell me…” My voice cut off as I fought tears that threatened to demolish me. I managed to pull it together, sniffing loudly before snapping out a quick finish. “She died on impact, apparently.”
That was all I could say.
Our last words to each other had been in anger.
My sweet Tammy never made it back home because I was a stubborn asshole who refused to marry her.
Geronimo (A Songbird Novel) Page 11
