Page 96 of Now or Never

“You’re the best, Jae.”

Jae squeezed her tight. “I know.”

Chelsea laughed. “Ben and I are lucky to have you.”

Jae went silent for a moment. “You’re my family.”

Chelsea squeezed even tighter, both of them crying now. The past hadn’t been very kind to Jae. They were lucky they had found each other.

“Come on,” Chelsea said through tears. “Let’s go hang out with Ben. Jasper will be here tomorrow. I’ll tell him he’s a turd then.”

Jae nodded. “Sounds good.”

thirty

Adam sliced open the plastic from a stack of tiles in Max’s new kitchen, then pulled the first one out, measured and cut it on the saw next to him. He was blaring the music from a speaker to drown out his thoughts. It wasn’t working. All he could hear was Chelsea’s voice telling him they weren’t friends.

It had been nearly a week, and he still heard it.

All the time.

He should have been happy. He got what he wanted. Distance between them so she and Ben wouldn’t get hurt. But now that he had created that distance, it was hurting him.

He’d spent every waking hour for the past two weeks at the pub, mostly working on the kitchen before the chef they hired relocated and got to work. He’d installed the walls, doors, flooring, cupboards, countertops, and appliances. All that was left to do was tile the walls. He’d mostly worked alone, avoiding conversations with Max and his crew, who were busy in the dining area and brewery. He was pretty sure they were avoiding him, too.

Just as well. He wasn’t really fit for conversation.

He’d carefully placed the tile when her voice came through, clear as a bell once again.

You’reexactlylike Jasper.

Adam shook his head and pressed the tile onto the wall.

“There you are.”

He glanced over his shoulder as Max and Antonio breezed through the doors. Without acknowledging them, he turned back to the wall, pulled some spacers from his tool belt, and fitted them between the tiles.

“You okay?”

Adam shook his head at Antonio’s voice, reached for another tile.

A few moments of silence stretched before Max broke it. “I ran into your dad and Denise at the gas station. They’re back in town and on their way here.”

“Great,” Adam said, void of any emotion. He couldn’t summon it. It was like all the energy in his body had disappeared with Chelsea’s words and he was now just moving lifelessly through the world.

He’d just pulled the next tile from the box when his dad and Denise came through the doors. “Adam!” his father boomed.

He raised a hand in a half wave and carried on with the measuring and cutting, hoping everyone would just go the fuck away. If only they were still in the demolition phase of the reno so he could hit something. Release the rage.

Intricately tiling the wall while his mind raced all over the goddamn place was not doing it for him. But it had to be done.

He felt a hand land on his shoulder and turned slightly to come face to face with Denise. “Adam, what’s wrong?”

Adam shook his head, summoned all his energy, and said, “Nothing.”

Max did a double take, then raised an eyebrow at Adam’s lie. “Adam fell in love.”

Denise’s face lit up. “Really?”

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