Page 76 of The Heartbreak List

“I’m sure you could.” I’m almost certain that I can think of a couple of cases from my time in my father’s office with a defense that would work for him.

“Gray is my best friend.” He drags his head up and rubs at his brow. “She’s my sister. And they were happy.”

“I know.” I grip the rim of the step and squeeze. The night we met she was happy and looking forward to an entire future with him.

“You know, I didn’t like the idea when they first started dating. I was worried that one or both of them would get hurt and that I’d have to pick sides. But they were so good together.” He looks at me. “You couldn’t just let them be happy? You couldn’t leave her the fuck alone?”

“You can blame me.” What does it matter? When she’s gone there’s almost no chance we’ll cross paths again. “But we both know I’m not the reason. Your friend was holding onto her so tight, she couldn’t breathe. He’s the one that pushed her away. She’s a shooting star. She’s so bright and beautiful and alive in the present. Everything a guy could wish to be so lucky to find. Gray doesn’t see it.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do. I’ve been where he is. Fixated on the future and not appreciating what I had.” And as much as I don’t like Gray—especially with Indy’s emotions so torn—I feel sorry for him. Because it’s going to hurt when he realizes it. “He’s so busy trying to hold onto the fading tail of who she was that he’s completely missing who she is. He’ll still be holding onto that tail when she’s gone. He’ll still be trying to work out how he could have fixed it. That’s not what Indy wants for him.”

“But you’re fine with there being no future here? You’re fine with her dying?”

“Not by a long shot. But I know what I’m getting myself into.” It’s going to hurt like hell when it comes time to say goodbye.

A blue Tesla turns down the street.

“That’s Gray,” EJ says.

I climb to my feet. This is going to become an incredibly uncomfortable situation. “When he tells you that Indy slept with me before they broke up…it never fucking happened.”

“Why are you telling me that?”

I squeeze his shoulder. “Because you don’t have enough time to waste on doubting whether she could do something like that. But she wants him to believe it because she thinks it will be easier for him to let go if he hates her.”

He snorts loudly. “If you think Gray could ever hate her—"

“I didn’t say I believed it.” If she were to wake up tomorrow with no tumor and a change of heart about being with him, he would take her back without another thought. I’m one-hundred percent sure of that. It’s why he didn’t tell her family. And why he’s parking his Tesla in the driveway even though his gaze is glued to my truck. “I’m going to let her know that he’s here.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Theo

“Doesitreallymatterif she cheated on Gray?” Mr. Jones is asking his wife as I re-enter the house. Sounds like they’re still in the kitchen. “Our little girl is going to die, Sharon. She’s going to leave us. Does it really matter if she wants to have a fling with some…death coach…or whatever the hell he really is?”

“It’s not like her.” Indy’s mom wipes at her face with both hands as I turn the corner. “They said this could happen. That the tumor could make her act out of character. It feels like we’re losing her more and more each day. I’m not ready, Oz. I’m not ready for this.”

“Neither am I, baby.” He engulfs the smaller woman, stroking her hair and crooning private words that are so low I can’t possibly make them out.

I glance around; Indy isn’t in the room with them.

“Poor Gray.” Sharon continues to cry in her husband’s arms as she holds onto him tighter. “This must be hurting him so much.”

A bitterness coats the back of my throat and turns my stomach. I knew what I was getting myself into, coming here tonight, but it’s still awkward as hell. From everything Indy has said Gray has always been more than Indy’s boyfriend and fiancé. I remember being accepted like that. Cooper’s parents treated me the same way. Walking away from that…it was the second worst pain I’ve ever experienced.

Indy’s dad lifts his head, his gaze catching on me. His eyes, so much like Indy’s, aren’t as cold as I’d expected.

I clear my throat. “Where’s Indy?”

“Outside.” One word and then he buries his face in his wife’s hair again.

I leave them to it. Through the huge panoramic windows that overview the garden, I spot Indy taking a quiet moment to herself. She’s sitting on a Cape Cod lounge chair, focused on her phone.

I step out onto the veranda and close the door behind me before striding across the lawn to join her. Glowing embers in the middle of a brick lined pit let out a little heat as the sun drives lower on the horizon. There’s enough room on the seat for two so I straddle it behind her and sit. “How are you doing?”

“That was the roughest thing I’ve ever had to do.” She leans against my chest and flops both legs over one of mine so that we’re more face-to-face than chest-to-back. “If Gray weren’t like family this would be so much easier. We’d break up and never talk or see each other again. But he belongs in this family almost as much as I do. I don’t want to change that. When I’m gone they’ll need each other.”

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