“I’ll have an IPA,” Avery responded, bringing a smile from me.
The server stopped at our table with sexy smile. “I’m Tyler. What can I get for you two?”
“Hello, Tyler. We’d like two IPAs, please.” Tyler smiled and hurried away.
I picked up one of the menus Tyler had left behind and handed it to Avery. “Are you—?”
He brushed it away and stared at me, though his eyes seemed a bit wild. “I hate to ask, but I need a favor. I can’t explain why I know certain things or why I want you to do this, but can someone in your family contact the United Network for Organ Sharing? Can you ask to allow the recipients of your sister’s organs to receive contact information if they want to ask questions about her?”
That was out of the fucking blue. “What? You want me to dowhat?What the hell do you know about my sister’s death?”
Avery took a breath before he spoke. “I realize it sounds crazy, Holden. I’m sure you think I’ve lost my mind or I’m a grifter, but maybe your parents can request the identity of the recipient of Happy’s heart? Will you ask them to open the lines of communication between your family and Happy’s recipient?”
I nearly fell off the damn chair.Happy?It had been my sister’s nickname. She’d always been a joyful child, and my dad had called herHappysince she was a baby.
“I shouldn’t have started with that. I’m sorry for blurting it out. Before I give away what I’ve learned, I want you to confirm things with UNOS and your parents.” He suddenly lifted his shirt to show me a scar in the center of his chest. That was odd behavior.
I blinked in shock. “Confirm what things?”
Chapter Twelve
Avery
I sounded like a babbling idiot. The look on Holden’s face said as much, especially since I was standing there with my shirt hiked up to show him my scar. It was a crazy impulse that I couldn’t control. His lack of a comment meant he didn’t notice
I quickly dropped my shirt and swallowed. “Look, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to ramble. I think if you could talk your parents into reaching out to the recipients of Happy’s organs, they might get some closure when they see how many people were helped through your sister’s selflessness.”
Holden stared at me. “How do you know my sister’s nickname was Happy.” He seemed a little pissed about it.
“Abort. Abort. Use my real name. Feign ignorance. Say it was a mistake that you called me Happy.”
I glanced around the room and didn’t see her, but I heard her in my mind. “I, uh, I mean Holly. Your sister’s namewasHolly, right?”
Holden didn’t look convinced at all that my actions were innocent. I was blowing the whole thing.
“Gimme something else!Now!” I growled at Happy…or the voice in my head.
“When I was fifteen, Holden caught me smoking behind the machine shed at our grandparents’ farm and promised to make me eat a cigarette if I ever did it again. He never told Mom or Dad.”
“When Holly was fifteen, you caught her smoking behind the—” I glanced to my left to see Happy standing in a corner of the bar, her foot tapping impatiently in black stilettoes with a silver spiked ankle strap.
“Behind the shed at our grandparents’ farm, dumbass. He promised to make me eat a cigarette if I ever did it again. He didn’t tell Mom and Dad.”She appeared to be ready to wring my neck.
“Behind the machine shed at your grandparents’ farm. You told her you would make her eat a cigarette if you ever caught her smoking again. You didn’t tell your parents.”
Holden stood, nearly upending the table before he grabbed my arms to hold me still. “Why are you saying this? How could you know anything about my sister?”
I glanced around to see we had an audience, so I wiggled free of his grasp. “Let’s get out of here.” I motioned toward the spectators, and once Holden saw them, he tossed money on the table and grabbed my forearm to haul me out of the place.
Once we were outside, the man dragged me to his truck. “Get in.”
I wanted to tell him to go to hell, but his expression was one of pain, so I couldn’t. He was pissed that I knew things about his sister that he couldn’t explain, and he needed answers. I wasn’t sure if I could provide them or what I would say, but I owed him something.
Instead of arguing with him and running like my life depended on it—which it might, based on his expression—I got into the truck. In my heart, I knew for a fact that Holden Rose wouldn’t hurt me though my confidence might have been completely misplaced since I didn’t really know the man.
I took a deep breath. “Holly loved you, Holden. She still does. She wants your family to be happy and move on from her death. She knows how much you’ve missed her, and she knows your parents miss her to the point they’re not actually living in the present anymore. She wants you all to heal.”
Holden stoically drove us to a small brick house in the opposite direction of my apartment. He pulled into the driveway and up to a garage. He turned off the ignition, not having said anything during the whole ride there.
