Page 63 of The Fate Of Us

“Addy—”

“Well, can you blame me? Did you not see that he went out with Amber?”

Her head tilt told me that she’d seen the pictures too. “Just because they were seentogether doesn’t mean their shagging.” I narrowed my eyes. “Having sex.”

My eyes softened. “It could, though.”

It was her turn to roll her eyes. “So what? Are you and Asher a thing now?”

I shook my head. “No, we both realised how complicated it would make things if thathappened. Because he said that he could see that Nate still felt things for me, which I don’t believe for a second, but regardless, he didn’t want to—”

“Get in the middle of a lover’s feud that started because he left and never gave you areason why?”

I nodded, gripping my glass like a sippy cup and letting the coffee glide down mythroat. Her words didn’t hit me right away, my body was too busy trying to reign in my breaths to hear her properly. And then my mind became a cave, the end of her sentence bouncing off the walls and echoing in the empty corners of my head.

I whipped my face towards her, realisation waking me like a shot of espresso.

How the hell did she know?—

“He was in here yesterday.” she blurted, like she knew what was racing through mymind. My lashes fanned her before she continued. “Looked like he’d been hit by a lorry and hadn’t slept in weeks. And I know he’s quiet, but… God Addy, I think my heart broke a little when I saw him up close.”

I let my head drop, eyeing my dangling feet and pulling at the fabric of my dress…anything to not let the image of Nate take over.

My eyes squeezed shut, only fluttering open when my pulse settled, her emerald eyes almost glassy. “Idon’t know why he came by. He never usually pops in unless Jacob is here, or unless he's here for the wonky pastries that we can't sell. I think he just had so much on his mind that he just needed to tell someone, anyone. And there he was. And before I knew it, we were sitting just like this, and he told me everything.” My mouth fell open. “And I mean everything, Addy.”

I pulled my head back, taking a breath and keeping hold of it.

Florence knew. She knew about us.

Suddenly, guilt started to mingle with the coffee I’d sipped. I’d been an idiot not to tellher. And Jacob. It wasn’t fair that they had to dance around us, treating our conversations like a trip-wired maze; weaving around our past.

“Flo,” I sighed her name, shame icing those three little letters. “I’m so sorry I didn’ttell you sooner.”

Quick as anything, her hands found mine again, as she shook her head. “Addy, don’t.After finding that out… I’m not surprised why you two are the way you are, and why you couldn’t bring yourself to tell us.” Her head dipped to meet my eyes that had drifted. “Do you remember when I confessed everything about my sister? That night I cracked? Do you remember me practically throwing up and sobbing so hard you had tocradleme?”

I did. The memories from that afternoon in her old apartment, the potion of rage andempathy coursing through my veins as I hugged her tighter made my brows draw together and a bulge of tears rise to my lash line.

Flo’s eyes sprung to mine and pulled me towards her chest, cradling me, like I haddone with her last year. “I am so, so sorry that happened to you, Add’s.” The words were enough for my face to scrunch up and the waterfall of tears to coat my cheeks.

The warm palms of her hand brushed over my back, soothing me. “And you bestbelieve me when I say I wasn’t shy telling him how awful he was to do that, no matter how much he tried to convince me—”

“Convince you what?” I pulled away from her slowly, holding onto her captivatinggreen eyes that were searching the watered-down embers that lived in mine. Before they dropped to her lap, her hands pulling at the lavender that covered her, a million unanswered questions existed around her.

She sucked in a quick breath, her brows tugging inward, likeshewas about to cry.“That you were to blame… for everything.”

I blinked, that was all I could do without screaming. “He what?”

Her hand flew to my cheek, wiping away a rogue tear. “I told him to stop talking when he said that. That part of the story is for you and him to talk about, not me. Not Jacob. NotAsher Hartford.” her hand fell as she grabbed her coffee. “Just you two.”

My eyes lost all hope and drifted down to my lap.

How Nate could come up with an excuse for not turning up that day that paints me asthe bad guy I’d love to know. I’d love to see inside his brain when that thought crosses his mind, how he saw what happened, what the trivial thing was that made him abandon me.

I shook my head, I didn’t want to think about that right now. Burning hot rage was afeeling that wasn’t allowed anywhere near my Mondays.

But as I recalled what she’d said, another thought flew across my mind.

If Nate told Flo everything, start to finish, does that mean that…

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