“No,” Tucker said quietly. “No she’s not.” He shrugged and ran his hands across the top of his head. “I don’t know why I’m being such an asshole.”
That damn lump was back in her throat and as much as Abby wanted to be pissed off at Tucker for the entire day, she just couldn’t.
“I don’t want to be that girl…friend,” she said quickly—Jesus—dropping her eyes back to the T in her hand. “You know the whiny, annoying friend. But I’m helping you out here, Tucker, so the least you could do is treat me like I matter and not as if I’m some lame-ass afterthought.”
“Jesus,” he said under his breath. Tucker leaned toward her and Abby froze. Everything inside her stopped working.
Her lungs. Swoosh, they went.
Her heart. Bouncy rubber chicken stopped boinging.
Her ears. There was nothing but white air.
Nothing but Tucker’s warm brown eyes with lashes as thick as molasses. Nothing but his thick dark hair, that full, almost feminine mouth, the cleft in his chin and the masculine scent that was all him.
In those few moments, there was only Tucker Simon because the world around them stopped moving too.
The two of them stared at each other for a long time, not saying a word. Tucker looking intense and Abby…well, she was hoping she looked like she had her shit together. There was something going on here, right now between them, and she had the feeling that it could be something really, really important…
Or maybe really, really, painful.
She just didn’t know which.
She wasn’t exactly sure when the world started moving again or when her lungs decided to start working or when her heart started beating. But eventually the things in the background came into focus once more.
“Abby, look, I’m sorry if I offended you this morning. I didn’t mean to. I just…there will be an expectation from them and I guess that’s what I’m trying to avoid.”
“Expectation?” she managed to say. Abby cleared her throat and tossed the T that was still in her palm as her rubber chicken heart began to beat again, the rhythm sad and kind of pathetic.
“I’d hate for my mom and dad to get their hopes up.”
She knew what he was getting at, but some masochistic part of her needed to hear it.
“What do you mean?”
Tucker settled back in his seat and gripped the steering wheel once again. “They’ve been through a lot. They loved my wife and when Marley…left, when that happened, it didn’t just happen to me, you know? She happened to my whole family.” He paused. “My parents will like you. They’ll like you a lot because they’d be crazy not to, and that’s what has me worried because you and I know that this weekend means nothing. At least nothing more than two friends hanging out, trying to have a good time.”
Something hot pricked at the corner of her eyes, and it took a lot of effort for Abby to keep it cool. To not react.
Tucker’s eyes finally moved back to the green ahead as he slowly applied pressure to the pedal, and the golf cart began to move. The thing between them was still there, heavy and thick in the air, but it seemed as if Abby had read it all wrong.
“Jesus, Betty Jo has us sleeping together and her mouth doesn’t know what a filter is. My mom is going to take one look at you and see wedding bells.”
He stopped the cart a few feet from Abby’s ball.
“I should have just come by myself. What the hell was I thinking?” He groaned. “How am I going to get her to see that we’re just friends when she’s going to have her wedding goggles on?”
Abby wasn’t sure how she managed to do it, but she slid from the cart and went around back to select her seven iron.
“Easy,” she said lightly.
“Really,” he replied.
“Sure,” Abby walked over to her ball. “I’ll just sleep with…who’s the cousin you’ve warned me to stay away from? Cooper? Yes, Cooper…I’ll sleep with him and that should do it. Before this weekend’s over, your mother won’t want me anywhere near you.”
“I hope to hell you’re joking.”
Abby refused to look back at him, instead she glanced toward the green and moved into place.