Page 163 of Crushing Clover

Her mouth opened in shock, and she seemed to be searching for something to say.

“How’s the restaurant? Rik? The kid?” Lucky asked.

“Why don’t you join us for coffee?” I blurted.

Arabella’s eyes crinkled with warmth, and she flashed me a smile. “Thanks. I’d like that.”

Saint sputtered. “We need to get on the road.”

“Twenty minutes won’t kill you.” I stood my ground as he glared at me. Fuck, if they could get some closure about this woman, it would be a good day, even if we sat here for hours.

“It might kill one of us,” he grumbled. Despite his dire words, he took the tray of coffee from me and led the way to a four-person booth. Rush borrowed a chair from one of the center tables, placing it at the end of the booth. Arabella settled into the added chair as though it might blow her ass to smithereens, but considering how the guys were staring at her, I didn’t blame her.

For a moment, I felt bad, as though I had shoved the poor woman in front of a firing squad. I should have known better than to expect them to make more small talk.

“I always wondered why,” Lucky admitted. “Things seemed good and then all of a sudden you were gone.”

Arabella smiled sadly. “Leaving the three of you was one of the hardest decisions I’ve made.” Her eyes drifted from him over to Rush and Saint.

“Then why?” Saint asked gruffly.

She shook her head. “I told you why.”

“Because you wanted the restaurant to have a different vibe.”

She huffed a laugh. “I hope you listen to her better than you did to me, or you’re going to lose her, too.”

All three of the men looked from her to me and back again.

“Saint, you’re shitty at aftercare. I could handle you being a dick and always wanting to get your way, but leaving all of the aftercare to Rush and Lucky wasn’t fair to them or to me. I understand it’s hard for you because of the kind of family you came from, but I needed more than that.”

He didn’t say anything, not even attempting to defend himself. At least he was that self-aware.

“And then there’s the rest of it. I wanted a wedding. I wanted babies.”

“I told you we could discuss it,” Saint said a little heatedly, then grimaced at himself. “None of that matters anymore anyway. You got it from someone else.”

“You wouldn’t even have the conversation. All I kept thinking was, ‘what if that conversation gets deferred forever?’”

“I told you we’d give you kids if that’s what you wanted.”

“But none of you wanted to be a stay-at-home parent. If I was going to get my restaurant off the ground, I needed someone willing to fill that role.”

“You could have stayed home.”

“I have too many other goals to stay home. Remember?”

“Lucky could have stayed home.”

“Lucky didn’t want to. Just because he’s the nicer one, and you boss him around, it doesn’t mean that’s what he wants out of life.” She shrugged. “Our priorities didn’t line up. It doesn’t mean I didn’t love you. I needed to move on with someone whose priorities aligned with my own.”

Lucky and Rush were nodding.

Saint crossed his arms and shrugged irritably. “Okay, fine. So what? I’m glad to know you’re happy now.”

“Thank you.”

Saint turned back to me, frowning. “Why did you want us to have coffee together? Aren’t you supposed to feel threatened by her or something?”

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