“Can’t complain.”
He smiles. “Always good to hear.” He turns his attention to Dylan. “I heard you had an eventful night.”
He rolls his eyes. “Don’t even get me started.”
“Everything okay?” I ask.
Jack laughs. “Yeah, Dyl, everything okay?”
Dylan glares at him. “I’m going to kick your ass. You know that?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m just happy Jo showed up at your house and not mine.”
The mere mention of her name has me choking on the drink of water I just took.
Jack looks at me. “You good?”
I nod but otherwise ignore the question. Turning to Dylan, I say, “Jo?”
He crosses his arms over his chest. “Yeah, she got home last night.”
“How long is she here for?” I ask because I need a definitive answer on how long I need to be on the lookout to steer clear of her.
He wears a look on his face that tells me what he’s about to say is going to be painful. “She’s moved home. For good.”
“What? Why?” That’s all I can manage to say.
He shrugs. “I don’t know. Something happened with her boyfriend. They broke up, and she showed up with all of her shit. Leah said she could stay with us to help out with the girls.”
Jack looks at me. “You know Jo?”
Dylan answers for me. “They were friends when they were kids.”
He knows there is way more to it than that, but I’m grateful he’s not bringing it up right now. It’s not something I want to talk about in the break room at the shop.
Jack looks between the two of us and decides not to pry any further. Thank God.
Dylan says, “Look, Beau—“
But I don’t let him get any further. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about it. Everything’s good.”
I stand up and quickly throw all my stuff back in my lunchbox. I suddenly have lost my appetite.
Dylan asks, “Are you sure?”
“Yep. That was a long time ago. I’ve moved way past all that shit.”
I walk out to the bay to get back to work, but where as this morning, I was focused on the job at hand, now, I can’t stay focused on anything besides Jo.
The youngest of the Lawson siblings was my best friend. Ever since she kissed me in front of the school, we were inseparable.
Over the years, I fell in love with her. Head over heels, crazy in love.
But I never told her. I was too scared. When she was about to leave town on the back of some guy’s motorcycle, I asked her to stay.
She didn’t.
And I haven’t talked to her since.
