Lucy scrunched her nose. “What are you doing, Uncle JP?”
“Honey,” Colt spoke to Lucy while holding me with a stare, “can you see if Auntie Ali is in the restroom for us?”
“Sure!” she answered in a peppy voice. Colt pulled the door open, and Lucy skipped under his arm to enter the room.
Colt pinned me with his gaze. “Wanna explain what’s going on here? Because it doesn’t look too good for you, my friend. Ali didn’t seem too thrilled to see you, and now it looks like you’re going after her.”
My face cracked. “I’m not… What?” I shook my head. “Ali’s—” I shut my mouth. It wasn’t my place to say it.
Colt gave me a stern look.
“She’s not feeling well.” My whole body vibrated with tension. It took all I had in me not to take a swing at Colt and run back to Ali.
A second later, Lucy stuck her head back out. “Nope!” She shrugged. “No one’s in here.”
My hands flew to my head.
No, no, no.
She played me.
“JP, what is going on?” Colt demanded, but his voice sounded like it was coming from under water.
Without another thought, I broke into a run, dodging kids and old people as I tore through the lobby and headed for the parking lot.
As soon as I pushed outside, the cold wind ripped through my bones, but I kept moving until I spotted her. She was halfway to the cars when she looked back over her shoulder. Seeing me, those brown eyes of hers widened before she started running. The clumsiest girl I knew was running in high heels, on the cracked cement, while pregnant.
“I’ll stop,” I called out, raising my arms. “Just stop running. I don’t want you to hurt yourself. Please, Ali,” I begged.
She slowed to a stop and hugged herself against the wind. After a couple seconds, she slowly turned and faced me head on.
I moved to take a step forward, but her hand shot up. “No, wait.”
I froze, waiting on her permission.
She squeezed her eyes shut and inched backwards, away from me. On closer inspection, her whole body was shaking. I reallyfucking hoped that response was because of the cold air, but I had a feeling it wasn’t. All I wanted was to hug her, but I knew that was the last thing she needed.
Her red-rimmed eyes narrowed on me. “Are you mad?”
“Am I…” I blew out a breath and raked a hand over my hair. “Mad? At you? No. Not at all. I swear. But…” I stared at her. “Shocked? Scared? Confused? Yes,” I choked out. “Areyoumad?”
Her eyes widened, like she was surprised by the question. Standing a little straighter, she shoved her hair behind her ears and fixed me with a long hard look. “Yes, I’m mad at you.” Her shoulders rose and fell with a breath. “But I guess we should talk.”
Fuck.
My mind whirled as I followed her to a small rust bucket of a car. As soon as she unlocked it, I wordlessly folded myself into her small passenger seat. Her hands trembled as she started up the car and blasted the heat. Being in a car with her filled me with a sense of deja-vu from our travels in Ireland. But unlike the carefree vibes between us in the summer, a tense awkwardness now filled the car.
“Is this yours?” I tried.
“It’s a rental.”
Of course it was a rental, she lived on a boat for the last decade of life.
“I’ll pay for everything, let me take care of you,” I blurted out. Was that how I was supposed to start? Now I wasn’t so sure.
“You don’t even know if it’s yours,” she said quietly.
“Don’t care.” The words flew out of my mouth, but I didn’t take them back. “But I think it is? Am I wrong?” My heart hammered erratically against my chest, waiting for her answer.
