Tumble (Dogwood Lane 1)

“So why did you?”

I look at her with a blank face. “Is that a serious question, Haley?”

“Yes. Why did you sleep with her if you knew, without a doubt, that it was wrong?” She hops off the chair and rounds the island. Her hands on the counter across from me, she leaps up and takes a seat. “Was she hot? Sexy? Did she come on to you?”

Blowing out a breath, I remember the way Neely felt against my body. The way she looked into my eyes and everything just felt right. Nothing mattered because I had her.

Except I didn’t.

“You want to know the truth?” I ask. I grip the corner of the counter and feel a sense of calm run across my skin. “I loved her, Hay. I really did.”

“You do love her then.”

“I guess I do.” I pick up another orange and throw it at her. She catches it with ease. “There. You happy now?”

“No. I won’t be happy until you’re happy. Well, I’ll be a lot happier in six months when I can go looking for my Prince Charming again.”

I consider something. “Maybe there are no happy endings. Maybe we’re all searching for this fairy tale because mass-market media shoves it in our faces, but maybe it’s all a made-up thing that we will never get.”

“Ew. Lies. All lies.” Haley gasps. “In fairy tales, they find the person they’re supposed to be with. It’s not two random people who just decide they want to hook up. It’s soul mates, finally coming together in the midst of a crazy scene and having to battle the world as a team.”

“I still think it’s stupid.”

“I still think you’re stupid,” she says. “But let’s get back to Neely.”

Just hearing her name hurts. It brings back a rush of memories that I don’t want to deal with. “Let’s not.” I get off the counter and lean against it instead. “I have one regret.”

“That you haven’t gone after her yet?”

“No,” I reply. “That I blew up at her. I was pissed.”

“Rightfully so.”

“I kind of lost it a little. It just set me off because I really believed she wouldn’t go, even though she kept telling me she was. How could she leave me? How could she leave Mia? They had plans. Neely was taking her to the Manicure Day with the gym.” I look at the ceiling and close my eyes. “I don’t even know how to tell her, Haley. She’s going to be destroyed.”

“Want me to do it? I can make it sound a little better than you, being that my heart isn’t broken.”

“I think it needs to come from me. As much as I don’t want it to, I think it’s best.” I blow out a breath. “I did this to her. I should be the one to take the brunt of it.”

She gets off the counter and stands beside me. She could not say a word and that would be fine. I get what she’s saying without the words needed to say them. But it’s Haley, and she won’t miss an opportunity to speak.

“Remember when you hired me?” she asks.

“Yes. Where’s this going?”

“Patience, Dane. Patience.” She pats my shoulder as she walks by. “You told me that day we’d have to work together to raise this kid. That we were a team. You wanted it seamless, remember?”

“And I think we nailed it.”

“We totally nailed it.” She grins. “I know a few things about you. Probably more than I want to, really. But one of those things is that you’d never, ever hurt Mia. Ever. So no more of the ‘I did this to her’ crap because I’m not going to listen to it. It’s not gonna fly with me, bud.”

Her words help more than she knows. “You’re all right, you know that?”

“Yeah, I know. Now, if you’re gonna live, I’m gonna go home and get some sleep. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a long day.”

“I’m good.” I let her grin warm me. “Thanks for coming by, Haley.”

“Anytime. Call me if you need me.”

And with that, she’s gone.

And I’m alone.

And missing Neely like it’s my damn job.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

NEELY

Excuse me,” I say, trying to slip by a handful of people on the street. Horns honk so loud around me, sirens wailing in the distance, that I’m not sure anyone even heard my voice. Or maybe they did and didn’t care. Either way, I get knocked sideways by only one person as I duck into my favorite coffee shop.

I spent last night strolling around my neighborhood, trying to get the energy of the city in my blood again. For some reason, the smells percolating through the manholes make my stomach crawl in a way that’s more violent than ever before.

Spying Grace at a little table in the corner, I make my way through the line.