Page 58 of The Rebound
“That dick!” She’s furious. “He proposed to you!”
“Yes.”
“And then he just what? Changed his mind?”
“Apparently so.”
“When?” she asks sharply. “When did it happen? Because if it was after MacFarlane, I swear to God I’ll—”
“It was before,” I interrupt. “A few weeks before. He’s actually tried to get in touch with me since but I’m not really talking to him. Or I’m trying not to or…” I trail off, suddenly tired. “It had nothing to do with that,” I finish lamely. “He didn’t want to marry me, so he didn’t. It was just me.”
I must sound as pathetic as I feel because she swallows her next words.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asks.
“I was going to as soon as I came home but I was late and you made pancakes and you were annoyed at me and—”
“I wasn’t annoyed at you.”
“You’re always annoyed with me.”
“Because you’re annoying,” she snaps. “And apparently a liar now too.”
“I was embarrassed, okay? It’s humiliating getting dumped at the best of times, but getting dumped by your fiancé a few weeks before your company goes under sucks even more. I didn’t want everyone to know how I messed everything up.”
“Oh, this is so you. Acting like you’re in control of everything. Sometimes bad things happen, Abby. No matter what you do.” She eyes me moodily. “Who else knows? Mam and Dad?”
I nod. “And I just told Luke.”
“Of course you did. You can’t flirt with him if he thinks you’re cheating on someone. Don’t,” she adds when I go to object. “Every tourist who comes here tries their luck with him. Ever since he hit late puberty.”
My mouth drops open. “You said you didn’t notice!”
“I’m not blind.”
“Then how come at the restaurant you said—”
“Because I thought you were engaged!” she exclaims. “And that was after you two made heart eyes at each other over lunch. I didn’t want you messing around with him. Especially when he used to have that silly little crush on you.”
When he what?I stare at her, wide-eyed but she’s not looking at me, her gaze on the emptying field outside the stall.
“I can’t believe you didn’t think you could talk to me,” she says. “You can stay as long as you need to. You don’t ever have to worry about something like that. You know that, right?”
I nod even though I didn’t. I now realize I didn’t know that at all and maybe that was just one of the reasons I was so worried about telling her in the first place.
“Thank you.”
She shrugs, still not meeting my eye.
“What did you mean when you said you thought I’d come to my senses?”
“Nothing,” she says. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she looked a little embarrassed. “I guess I wasn’t Tyler’s biggest fan.”
“You never met him.”
“Yeah, and who’s fault is that? Three years together and I never met the man who was going to be your husband. You were in New York, Abby, not on the moon.”
I don’t point out that she wouldn’t have come even if I’d invited her. But she’s right. There’s no reason why Tyler and I couldn’t have come here. But Tyler had never really shown an interest in Ireland. Besides a few questions when we first met, he never once asked about my childhood. And I never talked about it.
