The first round of drinks arrives, and she grabs a couple.“I’ll take these back.”She then pauses, gaze finding Eddie one more time.“It was a pleasure meeting you.”
He lifts his beer.“And you.”
Once she’s out of earshot, Eddie’s expression settles into something decided.“You’ve got your hands full there.Finally, someone who can stand toe to toe with you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Hey, ain’t my place?—”
“You brought it up.Spit it out, old man.”I’m grinning because this is what we do.Eddie’s been giving me grief since he took me under his wing, and I’ve been giving it right back.
He cocks his head, deciding, then leans forward.“Rickie was a sweet girl, but troubled.You loved her, and she loved you, but she never carried her own weight.You were her life raft, and there were times I worried she’d pull you under.”
My gut spasms, and I hope my expression stays neutral so as not to let on how on the nose he is.
He thrusts his chin toward where Grace disappeared.“But that one.She’d have your back.Balance you out.Give as good as she gets.”
“Eddie.”I drag a hand down my face.“She’s a reporter.We’re working together.That’s it.”
Oliver and Kellen say nothing.They don’t have to—they’re both calling me a liar with their eyes.
“Not buying it.”He tips his beer back, grinning.
Oliver shakes his head, but his expression sobers.“Speaking of Rickie.”He waits until I look at him.“She texted me today.”
The bottom drops out of my stomach.This is why he found a reason for us to leave the table.“What?How’d she get your number?”
“Never changed it.”
“What did she want?”
“We haven’t talked in ten years, and she’s telling me she wants to come home, needs cash, says you won’t help her?—”
I set my beer down on the bar, impatient for him to get on with it.“Oliver.”
“She wanted me to talk to you about fronting her the money.”
The silence sits heavy.This is the first time Erica’s attempted to come home, which means she’s either finally willing to face what that looks like, or she hasn’t thought it through.Either way, everyone will know about her.About why we broke up.
Until now, she’d rejected coming home, letting anyone in on how life has changed for her, even when she left me no choice but to tell Reggie.Back then, I was navigating her addiction alone, building a career in a foreign country, and I couldn’t tell anyone—not even my mother, as much as I wanted to.It felt like a betrayal to tell Erica’s story, even when she had no problem doing the same to me.
All three of them watch me, then Eddie’s hand closes around my forearm, but he looks to his brother.“What did you tell her?”
“That I’d pass the message along.That’s all I promised her.”
“Thanks, Ol.”I rake a hand through my hair, the weight of it settling in—a loneliness I know too well.The one that showed up after my father’s accident.His death.Every time Erica pulled me back under, and I let her.
I’m tired of carrying it alone.
Erica reached out to Oliver.As far as I see things, she made that choice, which means maybe I get to make one too.If she comes home, my friends and family will be blindsided, and that’s not fair to any of them.
“There’s something I should’ve told you a long time ago.About our breakup.”
Eddie stays steady, almost relaxed, while Oliver and Kellen freeze in the way people do when they sense the ground shifting.
“You know how it was when we left.I was training around the clock, trying to prove I belonged.Erica had too much time and not enough direction.I suggested classes, school, learning the language, but she wasn’t interested in any of it.Then she started running with partiers until it wasn’t just partying anymore.”
Oliver’s jaw tightens, and Kellen stares.