Page 31 of Love in Pieces

The corners of her mouth tick up. “Only because you brought food.” She smiles fully this time and it’s a beautiful sight. She continues reading, barely looking up at me, but takes a bite after practically drowning it in marinara sauce.

“Are we trying to suffocate the cheese?” I ask, laughing.

“Ha, ha, ha,” she mocks, tipping her head side to side with each syllable. She dips another one before looking up at me and grins. “I may need more, though.”

I shake my head with another laugh. Her phone vibrates on the table as I slip out of the booth to get more sauce. Abby doesn’t get a word in before I hear muffled yelling from the woman on the other end. She gives me a small smile before turning away from me and pressing the phone to her ear.

?CHAPTER 11

Abby

“Where have you been?” Meredith yells through the phone.

Dallas watches me intently from where he’s moved to the bar. I smile, hoping that’s enough reassurance that it’s nothing to worry about. He nods before disappearing into the kitchen.

Finally, I answer Meredith. “I’m sorry. I know I’ve been a bit absent this weekend.”

“A bit? I haven’t heard from you since Friday, and you were drunk at that point. I had no idea if you were okay or not. And not to be petty—actually, no. I do mean to be petty this time. I was not about to contact Sam. He’s never any help.”

“I’m okay.” I can’t bear to tell her what happened.

“Are you, though? I heard through the grapevine that some shit went down. I heard Sam hit you. Did he hit you again, Abby?” When I don’t respond, she goes off. “Abigail Cooper, please, so help me God, if that man, no,boy, hit you again, I will do worse to him. He will have hell to pay. Please tell me you called the cops. And please tell me you are done with his ass.”

I suppose there’s nowhere else to hide. Letting a long breath go, I start telling her what happened. Every detail. I tell her how I saw Sam cheating but didn’t confront him and instead decided to get drunk and lash out. I tell her about Sam sending Shane to “check on me.” I explain where I’ve been all weekend. And when I tell her about Dallas, a smile creeps across my lips. She listens the whole time, not saying a word. When I finish, she remains silent for a moment, taking in all the information.

“This guy Dallas. You trust him?” she asks.

I look over at the bar and see him watching me, now eating his own plate of mozzarella sticks. The corner of his mouth ticks up when our eyes meet, and I don’t turn away. “I do,” I say, still staring, the smile slowly growing.

I hear a heavy sigh through the phone before she continues. “You know you can crash in my dorm if you need to.”

I finally break my gaze with Dallas. Turning back to take a sip of water, I say, “I know, but I feel safe with him. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s like a knight in shining armor kind of thing and I haven’t seen past that yet, but for now, I feel safe.”

“Okay. I trust you. I just don’t want him to take advantage of you after so much trauma. But you know I’m only a call away. I’ll drop everything for you. You know that right?”

“Yes. I’m sorry I didn’t call or text you sooner. I think I’ve been in such a state of panic all weekend, and I haven’t had a chance to even try processing what happened.” Talking to her has eased some of my nerves. I needed someone else to talk to about this. It feels good to get this whole relationship off my chest. After carrying something so heavy around for over a year, it becomes like a weighted backpack that you can’t put down. I’ve just gotten so used to carrying it that it started feeling normal. But then I talk to Dallas and Meredith about it, and I’m reminded it isn’t normal. That’s not how it’s supposed to be.

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