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I started to head out the back door but stopped. “Where’s Dad?”
“Oh, I think he’s downstairs tinkering. You should have privacy out back.”
Nodding, I went outside and sat at the patio table before calling Lucy.
“Hey, Jaz, are you at home?” Lucy asked as soon as she answered.
“I’m at my parent’s. Decided to see them for a while.” I really was avoiding Mike but that sounded better.
“Um, well, is this a bad time? Shh, Amy, I know,” she whispered.
“Lucy is everything alright?”
There was a series of clicks and shuffling sounds then Amy came on the line. “Jaz, Mike was talking to some woman at the club a few minutes ago. They were sitting together when I came in. I made sure he knew I saw. No, Lucy, stop,” she said even though it was a bit muffled. “You want me to go handle it?”
“What did she look like?”
Amy whispered something to Lucy again and there were smacking sounds. “Short, curvy, skin tone sort of like your sister, and short twists.”
Nikki. He was hanging out with Nikki? So soon?
“Amy, don’t confront them but will you see if they’re still there?” My heart was racing, and my stomach was twisting and turning. Suddenly the Brunswick stew didn’t sound so good.
“Give me a minute.”
I bit my lip, waiting on her to check it out. He couldn’t seriously have gone to hang out with another woman so soon?
“Hey, I don’t see him. Okay, okay, stop! Here!”
Lucy came back on the line. “Jaz, geezus, I should have checked before I called you. Mike’s gone but that woman is hugged up on some man at the bar and they both seem to be into each other. Well, you made it sound bad, Amy,” she said, muffled. “Anyway, I don’t know if they came together or what but she’s not with him now. Maybe I shouldn’t have called.”
I blew a breath through puffed cheeks. “No, I appreciate it. Tell Amy thanks for the heads up.”
“Are you alright?”
“I don’t know. I know who she is. She works at the hospital. I don’t know what to think.” That was true. He told me she was just nice to him, and she seemed to acknowledge we were together. Was she the kind of woman to swoop in when they sensed an issue? Or did she just run into him? She was with another man. I didn’t even know her and shouldn't make assumptions about her character.
I did know one thing…I wasn’t about to lose him, again.
Chapter 24
Mike
I worked out for two hours, pushing it pretty hard. Instead of clearing my mind, I replayed everything over and over. The last day, the last few weeks, the last eight years. And of course, the look on Amy’s face as sheassumedshe caught me doing something wrong flashed through a million times. Surely word had made it back to Jaz.
That was the least of my worries.
I finally knew. My questions had been answered. All but one: Did she tell me to push me away again?
Even though there were moments where it felt like us again, there were so many that still made her seem distant or unsure. Did she just fall back into an old routine with me? A familiar one? Did she even want me?
My reps got more intense the more I mulled it over.Was it a mistake coming home?
So much was different. Jason had Lucy and apparently doesn’t feel like we had the same friendship we did before. Jaz drops this bomb on me. Did she tell me just so I would break it off with her and she would come out looking like the dumpee? It was my shitty luck to move into the same complex as her without realizing.
On the other hand, my new job was great, and I could see my parents anytime. And maybe things with Jason would get better over time. I made new friends. And I could afford to eat out here; Cali was so expensive.
It seemed like fate was pushing us back together, but maybe there’s no such thing. Maybe instead of it being a good stroke of fate, it was a test. One that I failed miserably.
