“Must have been pretty serious for him to dip on us like this.”
Guilt twists in her stomach like a knife. “Yeah,” she mumbles.
“Have you tried reaching out to him?”
“Several texts, but I haven’t heard anything back. I’m afraid that if I try again, I’ll be overstepping. More than I already have.”
“I’ve seen the guy blow up before, but never quite like that. Do you think he might...”
“What?”
“Try something stupid.”
Eden swallows. Now she really does want to puke. “Like hurt himself?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. Himself, or someone else.”
“God, I don’t know.” She starts to shake. “All he said was, ‘I’m done.’ I have no idea what he meant by that. Does he mean he quits? Does he mean he’s done with me? I just…”
“Hey, hey,” Freddie coos, rubbing her gently on the back. “It’s okay. Everything’s going to be fine.”
“What if it isn’t? What if I’ve ruined everything before they’ve even begun?”
“Eden, deep breaths, hey? Deep breaths.”
She follows his lead, inhaling through her nose and exhaling through her mouth. She feels fucking pathetic. She wishes she could take everything back.
“Look,” Freddie says gently. “I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you or what’s happened, but I can tell how much you care about each other. Sometimes we say and do things that can hurt those closest to us.”
“But I should know better.”
“Yes. But you’re not perfect, Eden. Nobody is. Sometimes our emotions get the better of us. Sometimes we have lapses in judgment. It happens. Everyone makes mistakes. But what do we do after?”
Eden’s jaw tenses. “We learn. And apologize.”
Freddie nods. “Give the man a bit of space. You both need to cool off. Once you’re both ready, then you can move forward.”
“Thank you. I really needed to hear that.”
“No problem, love.”
“When did you get so smart?”
“I’ve always been smart. I know I may come across as the comedic relief of our little group, but I can promise you that I have a lot of wisdom to offer.”
“Clearly.”
“I was in the Army, you know. I’ve known my fair share of Alexander-types.”
Eden sits up a bit straighter, intrigued. “You were in the Army?”
“Yeah. Enlisted out of high school. Not out of a sense of patriotism or anything, but because I wasn’t ready for a life without structure and order. Found myself amongst a lot of like- minded individuals, a lot of whom had tempers like our favorite head chef here. Some of them were... deeply troubled, I guess you could say.”
“How did you... I don’t know. Bond with them, I guess? I’m sure it was imperative in that line of work.”
Freddie shrugs. “By being patient. Everyone’s got a backstory. Everyone has scars they need to heal. It’s just that, for some, those scars can’t be found on the skin. Some people never opened up to me, and that’s okay. We could function together, work together, get the job done. Some of them did, and that was great, too. It definitely made the job easier, having that kind of rapport. But at the end of the day, nobody owed me any explanations. And it quite frankly wasn’t my place to play detective and demand answers. Relationships have to be organic, not forced. Otherwise they don’t last.”
Eden nods, Freddie’s words striking a chord with her. “I see that now.”
