“If you ask nicely, I might make an exception in your case today.”
Cael waggled his eyebrows. “You want it, just ask.”
Zach rolled his eyes. Banter such as this was normal for them. Then again, they had been best friends for most of their lives, so it was expected in a way. Almost an obligation.
“Are we going or what?”
“Yeah, we’re goin’, Pook.” Cael chuckled, adding his pet name for Zach—the one Cael only ever used when he really wanted to get under his skin.
Cael had adopted it back in their first year of college when the first girlfriend Zach ever had started calling him Pookie. Zach had hated that name, and Cael knew it, and there was no way he was ever going to let that one go. Funny thing was, Zach kind of liked it now when Cael called him Pook, but he was never going to tell him that. As far as Cael was concerned, his little nickname still annoyed the shit out of Zach.
“Just get in the truck,” Cael added.
Zach slid into the passenger seat, stifling his first smile of the morning, as Cael climbed in opposite him and started the ignition. Pulling off his baseball cap, Zach raked his fingers through his flattened, messy bed hair, then replaced the cap to cover it and keep it from looking too crazy. With a deep breath, he let his head fall back against the headrest and puffed his cheeks as he let the air vacate his lungs.
“Where you dragging me off to now?” Zach groaned.
“Breakfast.”
Zach opened his mouth, but Cael cut him off.
“Don’t argue.”
“Fine. Breakfast.Thencan I fucking go home and sleep?”
“No.”
“Ugh.”
“You’re coming with me to Gramms’. She needs some help moving boxes up from the basement.”
“I’d rather wallow in my own self-loathing today.”
“I’m gonna pretend you didn’t just insult my grandma with that comment only because I know why you’re in such a pissy mood.”
Zach turned and glanced out the passenger window. “Sorry,” he muttered. He wasn’t usually so callous, but today was a little different. Fuck that, today wasa lotdifferent.
“Look, Zach. I get it. Today was supposed to be the first day of your new life with Megan, but did you ever stop and think that maybe she was right?”
“About what exactly?”
“That you weren’t in love with her.”
Zach’s heart clenched. “I thought I was.”
Zach really did. He loved her, but he still didn’t understand what Megan had seen that he hadn’t. Cael hadn’t said anything, but Zach knew he wondered too. Megan had reiterated the fact that Zach wasn’t just not in love with her, but that he was in love with someone else. Zach couldn’t fathom who that someone else could possibly be. There weren’t many people with whom he spent a significant amount of time. Cael and Cael’s sister, Chloe, who always hung around his sister, Abbey. He’d dated Chloe years ago back in college, long before he’d met Megan.
What was it Chloe said to him when they broke up? Some shit about seeing something she saw and loving the fact that he was really more of an overprotective brother than anything.
“You know what Chloe said when I first told her about your breakup?” Cael asked, his attention focused on the busy two-lane road.
“What?”
“That it wouldn’t have lasted anyway. She felt bad for you, but all she did was shake her head and smile, like she and Megan shared the same secret or something.”
“Maybe they do. You know, Chloe was just as cryptic when she broke up with me too. It’s as if all the girls I get serious with have something against me.” Zach let out a deep breath. “Whatever. I don’t know, man. I feel like I’m never gonna find the right girl.”
Cael cast a glance at him, his lips twisting as if he was thinking. He reached over and gently grabbed Zach’s shoulder, giving a small squeeze, then dropped his hand to rest on the gear shift. “You will.”
