Page 93 of Knot That Difficult

Skylar releases me and gives April a dirty look. “I have never pushed anyone into anything.”

“I got presents,” I say meekly. “Want to see?”

Skylar’s eyes widen. “Presents?”

She loves presents nearly as much as I do, and I know showing her the closet will make me feel better.

Especially since the number of packages has grown since this afternoon.

“Devyn?” Skylar says the moment I open the closet door. “What the actualfuck?”

“Wow,” April deadpans. “And all I got was a bomb.”

“Maybe I should break up with my pack temporarily,” Skylar murmurs, “just so they can do this to win me back.”

I frown. “We didn’t break up.”

We didn’t, right?

I would never leave Ben. I just needed to be away from him.

But what about Connor and Ace?

We were barely dating, so does this separation mean we’vebroken up?

April sees my expression and shakes her head. “No, you didn’t,” she says. “You just need time away to figure everything out.”

April and Skylar know the whole story, or as much as I was able to word vomit through the week. They’ve both stopped by after work to check on me, but I’ve been too tired to do anything but speak a couple of words to them, which is very out of character for me.

Today is the first day where I’m starting to feel like myself again.

“When are you going to open your presents?” Skylar asks.

April sighs. “Skye.”

“What?”

“She’s going to open them when she’s ready. Get your own presents.”

“Fine,” Skylar huffs as I continue to stare into the void of packages.

“I think I would like to open some later with you guys,” I say slowly. “Maybe we could do some of them and see how it goes?”

“Only if you want to,” April says.

“Yeah,” Skylar adds. “Obviously, it would be fun, but do this on your own time, Dev. Do it when you’re ready.”

“Being with you guys will help me. I think it will be good.”

April quirks her lip. “I think that’s a great first step, Dev.”

“Dinner is almost ready!” Tammy calls from the kitchen. “Come get your plates.”

“Oh,” April says as we head to the kitchen. “She had you make beef bourguignon with her? That’s a rite of passage.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“It means you’re part of the family,” Skylar says. “She made me do it, too.”

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