Page 7 of Someone Like You

“It’s just a cabinet,” he said, tossing the screwdriver into the bag on the ground.

Abby looked like she wanted to argue, but she was smarter than that and just smacked a kiss on Phil’s cheek. “Thank you for your service.”

It wasn’t‘just a cabinet’and Phil knew it. It was the first productive thing, however insignificant, he’d done since the burnout, and that had to count for something. He couldn’t wait to tune into his next therapy session withbragging rights.

“How was your run?” Abby inquired.

This time Phil was able to block the glimpse of rippling pecs out of his mind before it could affect him.

“Good,” he said in a tone that he hoped would sound nonchalant. “I managed to go almost five miles straight and lived to tell the tale. Kinda.”

“Kinda?”

The nonchalance flew out of the window as Phil thought back to the incident. Twinkling blue eyes. That deep voice taunting him.

He shifted from foot to foot, crossing his arms. “I had a little mishap with this other runner. Nothing serious,” he quickly clarified, seeing Abby’s face fall, “but wait until you see the bruise on my ass.”

Abby giggled. “Did you have a Hallmark movie moment with some sexy knockout?”

A hot flare spread in Phil’s stomach. “You could definitely say that,” he heard himself reply. He hadnotintended to say that, but Abby didn’t notice his fumbling.

“Oh, really?” she teased. “Was she prettier than me?”

Phil snorted. “He definitely had bigger tits than you.”

“Mmm, interesting.”

“More likeinfuriating.”

Abby’s expression turned from amused to apprehensive. “Please, tell me you didn’t pick up a fight.”

Phil stifled a groan. He’d recently developed anger issues — a common side effect of Seroxat, he’d been told —, which had just added to the list of reasons why he tended to avoid social situations.

“You have no idea how badly I wanted to,” he admitted.

Abby brought a hand to her forehead with a mournful sigh. “Phil…”

That old pang of guilt Phil had been living with for months jabbed his chest again. He didn’t deserve someone who cared about him as much as Abby did.

“What if I told you,” he promptly added, “that we had a good laugh about it over a coffee?”

“Really?”

“Yep. There’s this lovely café by the park,La Dolce Vita. We should go some time.”

But Abby wasn’t listening. She had brought her hands to her mouth and looked like she was about to cry. “I can’t believe you actuallyinteractedwith someone! Any chance you’ll be seeing this guy again?”

Phil swallowed. The flare in his stomach was back, hotter than before. No, he didn’t want to see Ian Galloway again, not even from afar. But Abby looked so proud of him, and so hopeful, that Phil figured it couldn’t hurt to indulge her. He’d been a terrible boyfriend in the last year, barely present mentally, even less physically, and Abby had been nothing but a supportive angel to him, sticking with him through all his shit without ever asking for anything in return. If he could give her just a crumb of solace, he would.

“Could be,” he said with a shrug. Good answer: vague, noncommittal. Worked for everyone. It was definitely worth the light Phil saw spreading across Abby’s features.

“I know this is hard for you, okay?” Abby took his face between her hands, the pads of her thumbs stroking his jaw. “I don’t want to force you, but… Maybe don’t look a gift horse in the mouth?” She looked up at him with those Bambi eyes of hers. “Promise me you’ll be nice if you run into this guy again.”

There wasn’t much Phil could do to resist that pleading look. If he wasn’t willing to try for himself, he had to do it for Abby.

“Sure.” He tilted his head impishly. “I’ll buy him flowers and take him out for dinner.”

“Phil!”

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