Page 109 of Four Dates and A Forever
She was almost in the clear when her phone buzzed. Her nerves said to keep moving but her guilt told her to check the text to make sure it wasn’t an emergency. She glanced at the screen and sighed. It was her sister.
Dotti:it’s an emergency.
Everything in Dotti’s world was an emergency. Abi shifted her bags to one hand, wincing when the weight of the wine bottles grazed the still-healing sore spot on her wrist from the accident, then quickly swiped off a return text.
Abi: Are we talking zombies or the Four Horsemen kind of emergency?
Dotti: Hank had to leave for work early and they’ve outnumbered me.
Bythey, Dotti meant her Irish twin toddlers, Lemon-Marie and Koi, who might just be the biggest emotional vampires this side of the Mississippi. Their objective was world domination, their weapon of choice, temper tantrums.
Abi: You ran emergency dispatch for a decade, surely you can handle your children. Which you planned and begged the universe for, BTW. Remember all the times you said, “All I want to be is a mom”? Well, guess what? You got your wish so suck it up.
Dotti: They found your stash of doughnuts. There’s enough powdered sugar on the floor to make snow angels and mutiny is on the horizon.
Abi winced. She’d hidden her stash on the top shelf in the coat closet, shoved all the way to the back and stuffed in a Skechers box. Who knew two travel-sized tots could scale a coat rack? Regardless, it left her with two options: leave Dotti to fend for herself or be late for work. Reminding herself that her new lease on life was about doing the right thing, even when it was the hard thing, she texted:
Abi: Hide the permanent markers and finger paints. I’ll be home as soon as I can.
Abi began to pocket her phone when she heard footsteps behind her. “You need help with those bags?”
“You need a bell,” she mumbled, and she could have sworn he grinned. She glanced up and nearly rolled her eyes. He stood there easily balancing two bags on one arm, his bicep flexing her way.
Whatever bad juju she’d accumulated throughout her life was coming at her with a vengeance.
“Can I give you a ride?” he asked.
“I’m fine.”
She unlocked her Huffy from the bike rack. Still pretending like he was nothing more than a figment of her ridiculously vivid imagination, she loaded up her bike, the balloons floating from her handlebars, the champagne bottles taking up the entire basket. No matter how many times she rearranged her items they didn’t fit—the story of her life.
“Why do I have the feeling that’s your mantra,” he said as she stepped onto her bike. “Where are you going?”
Holding the lighter bag, Abi put one foot on the pedal. “The opposite direction of wherever you’re going.”
“Funny, your bike’s pointed in the exact direction of my work and therefore your work, which happens to be next door to my bar.”
She looked down at her clown shoes and lifted a brow. “Does it look like I’m headed into work?”
“Who knows, it could be dress-up day. You are wearing a tie and lace-up shoes.” He reached out and tugged her oversized tie, then pinched her nose. It honked.
“Didn’t your mama tell you it’s rude to give someone a good honk?”
“So it was good for you too?”
She snorted. “I gotta go. I’m already late.”
“Then let me give you a lift.” There was no teasing or flirting in his tone, just deep concern. For her.
She’d had a lot of people expressing their concern after the crash. Heck, she was as concerned as they were. How was someone just supposed to pick up the pieces and move on? If Jenny were still alive, she’d tell Abi to put one foot in front of the other. And she’d do it with that bright, heal-the-world smile that Abi would forever miss in her life.
Not wanting to let Jenny down again, Abi started pedaling across the parking lot. Owen easily kept pace. Not surprising since she was moving at a snail’s pace.
She looked over her shoulder and the bike wobbled. “Stay in your lane,” she said. He slowed down so that he was directly behind her but didn’t stop. “Now you’re tailgating.”
“I must say, I like your tail.”
She stopped, put her feet on the concrete, and looked at him over her shoulder. He winked. She groaned. “What will it take for you to go on your way so I can go on mine?”
