My eyes
lingered on the easy way their fingers wound around each other’s and how he squeezed her hand before releasing it to walk in our direction. He stopped before me and his smile spread wide before pulling me into a massive, Olympian-sized hug. I peeked over his shoulder and saw Heaven smiling at the two of us, but there was still worry in her eyes.
“Good to see you, man,” Anderson said.
“You too.”
He released me and grabbed Oliver, hugging him tight. I raised an eyebrow at Heaven questioningly, but she just watched the three of us together and I knew in my heart everything would be okay.
“We good?” Oliver asked him.
“Yes, we’re fine.”
I eyed him skeptically. “It’s not really like you to behave so rationally.”
“I know, but while you guys have been working through things here, I’ve been working on myself.” Heaven walked from the doorway next to Anderson, again slipping her fingers through his. “Hayden, on the other hand, isn’t fine. In fact, he’s—”
“Gone,” Heaven said, her strong resolve cracking. “He’s gone.”
“What?” I asked. “Where?”
“Back to Atlanta. He unloaded on me when I got here,” Anderson said.
“Sit,” I told him. “Tell us everything.”
He did, and when he finished we sat around the room, one person obviously missing from our circle.
“I had no idea he’d been carrying so much,” Heaven said, wiping a tear from her cheek. “He’d been protecting me this whole time.”
“He was protecting himself, too,” Oliver said, eyes dark with disappointment. “He could have told us this was going on.”
“I knew that Bryant guy was a creep,” I said.
“Slimy,” Heaven agreed. “I didn’t like his teeth. Too white.”
“He’s just doing his job,” Anderson said. “Hayden’s not wrong about the branding and image stuff. He was also right to try to protect you. Somewhere along the way, things got really messed up and I think he not only lost us but he lost himself too.”
“What should we do?” Heaven asked, looking at each of us. “We can’t just let him go like this. We need to talk, even if…even if it’s to let him go.”
Anderson took her hand. “There’s nothing we can do right now. Amber’s wedding is in two days. You have obligations as her maid of honor that you have to fulfill. Hayden doesn’t have the right to ruin her special day.”
Heaven sighed and nodded. “You’re right.”
A phone vibrated, interrupting the discussion, and Heaven looked at her screen. We all waited, hoping it was Hayden changing his mind, but she shook her head and said, “It’s Amber.”
“Hey,” she said, holding the phone to her ear. Amber’s voice was audible, although unclear. Heaven’s forehead creased, her lips turned down with worry. “Hold on, let me pull it up okay? Let me see for myself.” She cut her eyes at Oliver. “Get me a laptop. Pull up the Oceanside Facebook page.”
Oliver hopped up, going to the kitchen for his computer. Heaven spoke to Amber, “Are you sure? Who would do such a thing?” She waved Oliver back in the room and he typed as he walked, obviously pulling up the website.
“It’s bad,” he said, sitting next to Heaven on the couch.
Anderson peered at the screen. “Shit.”
“What?” I asked, moving across the room to look for myself.
“We’ll report it and get the messages down,” Heaven said as I rounded the couch. “Don’t stress. I’m sure no one has seen it.”
There was a distinct lack of conviction in her statement. I finally got a look at the screen and saw the Oceanside community page—normally used for news and public announcements. Amber and Ginger’s engagement photo had been posted at the top of the page, tagged with the headline, “Lesbians plan wedding in Oceanside! Is this the type of event we want to host in our town?”