Page 98 of Now or Never

“What?”

“Determined,” Ethan landed on.

Huh?

“What the fuck does that mean?”

Ethan blew out a breath. “She’s moving on.”

Adam’s chin dropped to his chest.

Silence fell over the group for a few seconds before his dad broke it.

“Why the hell is the girl you love moving on, Adam?”

Adam dropped his trowel into the bucket and wiped his hands down the front of his thighs, transferring the grey dust onto his worn-out jeans. “Just because I love her doesn’t mean we aregoing to be together. Sheshouldmove on. Everything is exactly as it should be.”

He reached for his bottle of water and drained it, then looked around at his family and friends, each with varying degrees of confusion.

“Why?” Denise asked.

Adam took in the worried looks of his friends and family and rolled his eyes. “What are you all doing here? Can’t I just be alone for a while?”

Every eyebrow in the place shot up. Adam wondered whether he should commandeer his dad’s new RV and drive away from this whole mess. He’d never been to the East Coast; maybe he’d go there. Or maybe he’d just get in his truck, drive straight to the airport, and catch the next flight to Ibiza. He’d spend a month drunk on the beach, sleeping with as many random women as he could.

It had never helped before, but maybe this time would be different.

“You want to be alone?You?” Denise asked.

“I’d rather be alone than part of this goddamn intervention,” he muttered.

Max let out an annoyed grunt. “Adam won’t commit to Chelsea, so she told him to fuck off.”

“But why won’t you commit, Adam? You love her.”

A knock on the door caught everyone’s attention.

“Who could that possibly fucking be?” Adam asked, unable to contain his anger.

Max turned to look out the window and gave an annoyed shake of his head. “I don’t know. I’ll get rid of them.”

Max disappeared through the door, and Adam tried to get back to his work but caught everyone still staring at him, so he steeled himself to come clean. He might as well let it all out so everyone could just leave him the fuck alone.

“I refuse to drag someone I love, and her son, into my fucked-up life, only to die in a few years and leave them all alone.”

It worked.

Silence fell across the room.

No one spoke.

Then everyone spoke at once.

“That’s ridiculous,” Denise said.

“You can’t be serious,” his dad said.

“That’s not how this works,” his uncle said.

---