Page 93 of The Rebound
“Beth?”
“I thought we—” I break off, distracted. “What?”
“You said Beth.”
“No, I didn’t.”
Luke glances at me, his anger fading into confusion. “What did Beth say?”
“Nothing.” Shit.Shit.
“Abby—”
“Nothing,” I repeat. “I was mid-rant. I misspoke.”
His brows pull together before he pulls over sharply to the side of the road, so sharply I have to grip to the dashboard to keep from spilling my coffee.
“What are you doing! We’re going to be late.”
“We’re hours early,” he says. “What does Beth have to do with us?”
“Oh my God.Nothing.Keep driving.”
“Beth’s my friend. And if she’s said something to you, I need to know.”
I just won’t play coy at the interview. That’s it. I’ll just march in there and say I can start right away and I’ll beg them to let me sleep on the office floor and I’ll never have to see any of these people again.
“Abby?”
“What?” I snap.
He doesn’t so much as blink at the venom in my voice. “Talk to me. I don’t want to keep running around in circles with you when that’s all we need to do.”
Why does he have to sound so sensible?
Luke turns off the engine, waiting.
“You’re holding my interview hostage.”
“I’m not,” he says calmly. “I’ll have you there in plenty of time and we can go right now if you really want me to. But I’m asking you to tell me what’s going on.”
Why was my life never this dramatic in New York? Why only in Clonard? Is it because nothing ever happens here? So every emotion gets heightened? Because that’s what it feels like.
“Abby?”
“Beth likes you,” I say. “As in shelikelikes you. She told me. So I can’t be with you because that will hurt her.”
“She likesme?”
“She told me at the bonfire. I promised I wouldn’t tell you but now I have so…” I raise my coffee in a mock toast and take a sip.
Luke just looks at me.
“Can you drive already?”
“Abby.” His voice is gentle. “Beth is my friend. One of my best friends. And I care about her deeply. But not in that way. She’s like a sister to me.”
“Don’t say that,” I groan, dropping my head back against the seat.
