The part of me that still wanted his love and to go back to my familiar life was trying to detect even a hint of sincerity in his words and tone, but it just wasn’t there.
“You know what I realized that day when I went back to the apartment? I was trying to decide what to take with me when I was packing to leave, and I realized nothing really belonged to me; everything we have ‘together’ is yours. I was just another ‘thing’ you acquired. Seeing you fucking that woman, and what you just confirmed about others, shows me where I stand with you. I’m sorry, Matt, but I won’t live like that.”
He snapped. “Goddamn it, Nora! Do you think I’m going to let you walk away?” His voice lowered, and he was talking through clenched teeth. “I will find you, and I will drag you back kicking and screaming if I have to. You have until tomorrow to get your fucking ass back here or I will make life harder for you little by little. I will fucking ruin you, do you hear me?”
He ended the call, and the next day, he followed that up with draining my bank account, leaving me with nothing but my car and what I fit in it when I left. I tossed my phone, the last thing that connected me to him, in the trash that day.
The screen on my laptop goes to sleep again as I look out the window of my room. I tap the mouse pad to wake it up; the cursor is winking at me like an asshole rubbing my nose in the fact that I’ve been completely unproductive.
A familiar SUV pulls into the driveway, and my heart does a little somersault in my chest. I almost forgot it’s Thursday and Tuck will be going to PT today. Will he come to the pub like he usually does? Or will he avoid me?
Kinley slowly climbs out from behind her steering wheel, and I think her belly is even bigger than it was last week. I’m surprised she can still drive.
Shutting my laptop and setting it aside, I make myself presentable and go downstairs to be distracted from my melancholy by the humorous interactions between the two women.
Today, Kinley is wearing a light-blue maternity jumpsuit that has paint splotches on it, but no makeup, and her hair is twisted up in a sloppy bun on top of her head. She’s even walking different.
Allison meets her at the door, hugging her tightly from the side. “Aww, you look horrible, chica. Is that Latin man not taking good enough care of you?”
Kinley’s husband was with her at the pub when they all came for dinner last week. He’s one of those tall, dark, handsome, broad and built men that women watch when they walk by. He looked at her with nothing but complete love and devotion in his eyes, and it made me wonder if a man will ever look at me like that.
A tired smile barely graces her face. “Oh, no, my fine Latin man is bending over backward to make me comfortable. It’s his part-Latin, part-Harlow baby boy that’s seeing just how uncomfortable he can make me every night. Rhys got mad at mefor not staying home to rest today, but it doesn’t matter where or how I rest, I’m uncomfortable.”
This time, as I jog down the stairs, Kinley sees me and gives me a side-hug, too, making me feel like I’m part of their duo, wrapping me in a comfort I haven’t felt since before Grams died.
“Maybe you shouldn’t be driving until after the baby comes.” Allison takes her hand and pulls her to a seat in the dining room.
Kinley shakes her head. “I’m fine, and Tuck is in so much pain after his PT that I don’t want him driving by himself.”
I would offer to do it if we could be back before my shift starts. But he probably wouldn’t want me to drive him anyway.
“What do you want for breakfast today?” Allison asks.
Sitting in a chair to Kinley’s left, I grab a piece of sausage that is already on the table with the usual breakfast stuff.
“Everything is giving me horrible heartburn; do you have something that won’t do that?” Her chair is so far away from the table to make room for her belly that she turns sideways a little and rubs the hard bun in the oven that looks like a beach ball.
“You got it!” Allison hurries back to the kitchen.
Kinley turns to me, and her smile widens. “Well, well, well, you’ve been keeping secrets.” She teasingly points her finger at me.
My mind kicks into double-time as I try to think of what she means, and the only thing that I can think of is that Tuck kissed me on the porch last weekend.
Worrying the edge of my napkin between my fingers, I shrug my shoulder. “In my defense, I haven’t seen you since last week.”
She drops her hand to the table. “I never thought I would see the day my brother pursued a woman. He’s always been the pursued. And that video of the attempted robbery the other night,” she rolls her eyes and dramatically fans her face. “The way he was looking at you made me hot just watching, and he’s my brother. Gross.” She follows that up with wrinkling her nose.
The world stops, and only a tiny part of me wants to ask how he was looking at me, the rest of me is focused on the other thing she just said, and everything around me goes fuzzy. “Video?”
“Yeah, one of the girls at the pub that night has a YouTube podcast and recorded everything. You and Tuck are on more than one social media platform staring lovingly into each other’s eyes behind the bar. Tuck has neeveer looked at a woman like he looked at you in that video. It makes me so happy that he’s found someone who gives him googly eyes.”
As she is talking, her voice is muffled with the fast current of blood moving loudly behind my ears. I didn’t even notice anyone was recording that night. But I wouldn’t since I was on the edge of hyperventilating from a panic attack.
Oh, God! I’m on the internet.
“Nora?” Kinley’s cool fingers cover my hand, jerking my attention back to her.
Allison pushes through the swinging door to the kitchen with a bowl in her hand. “Greek yogurt with honey and a sprinkle of granola.” She sets it in front of Kinley and looks between us. “What’d I miss?”
