Page 154 of Tangled Up In You

Gavin examined him for a moment. “No, you won’t.”

“What?”

“You won’t regret it. Not really. You love her. For years, yeah?”

Conor started to shake his head to protest, then gave up. He put his hands on his hips and looked away. The light rain that had been falling was growing heavier.

“Gavin, I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t mean much to you, but I’m truly sorry.”

Gavin took a deep breath and looked up at the sky as the rain came down. He washed his hands over his face, clearing away the sweat from his run.

Conor waited, the only noise the patter of raindrops. Then he was startled as Gavin let out a groan that turned into an anguished roar.

“Every one of those songs we wrote together about her—you were able to add your own special fucking touch, weren’t you?”

“I, em, I don’t know.”

“Yeah, right,” Gavin said with disgust, shaking his head slowly. “Christ, I let you two have at it, didn’t I?”

“What?” Conor asked, thrown by Gavin’s change in direction.

“I’ve been jealous and protective of her since we were kids. Except with you. I let you two go off god knows how many times. I saw the way you cared for her and I let it go on.”

“I’m not sure?—”

“I just about pushed her into your arms. I always told her I didn’t deserve her. I couldn’t be—I could never live up to the version of me she had in mind. I mean, what was she ever even doing with a fuckup like me?”

“You’ve got it wrong. The girl worships you. She made a mistake and that’s it.”

“Tell me something. She love you?” Gavin asked, again shifting from the topic Conor thought they had a handle on.

“No,” Conor said without hesitation.

“No?”

“No. We got to be mates, really good friends. But I was the one who wanted more. Not her, Declan.” He might lose his best friend over this. His band, too. But he would at least go out trying to help Sophie salvage what it was that she had always wanted—Gavin.

The rain had drenched them both and now Conor saw that Gavin was trembling from the wet and the cold. He had also retreated into his own thoughts. Conor was unnerved by Gavin’s lack of any real malice. He was almost apathetic about it all, which was worse than if he had taken it out on him physically. Several minutes passed and Conor realized Gavin wasn’t going to express anything else on the subject.

“You should go inside, dry off,” Conor said.

Gavin looked at him with confusion for a moment, then seemed to realize that he was soaked and it was getting colder by the minute. With a half-hearted wave, he turned and walked the rest of the way to the house, disappearing inside.

95

GAVIN

“Gavin, I’m sorry to do this over the phone.”

The anguish in the caller’s words registered before he could sort out who it was. Even with her voice masked by emotion, there was something familiar in it. Why she was emotional, he couldn’t say.

All he knew was that it was the middle of the night and the ringing of his mobile had startled him awake so that he reflexively answered the call.

“Are you there?”

Clearing his throat, he replied, “Yes. Sorry, who is this?”

“It’s Maggie. Sophie’s mother.”

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