Page 99 of Missing Pieces (Men of Manhattan 3)

"I can run to the pharmacy real quick if you want."

"That's not necessary. I'm definitely not pregnant." Definitely not.

"Okay." She awkwardly tapped the kitchen table with her fingertips. She always used to do that in class whenever she was called on. When she was nervous.

I exhaled slowly. I didn't want to hold on to this anger anymore. I had enough problems without this. My dad wanted me to live my life. How could I do that if I was harboring all this anger? "I forgive you."

"I'm sorry," she said at the exact same time.

We both smiled.

"Hails, I've missed you so much. You were my best friend. And I don't have an excuse except that love makes you do crazy things. I never meant to hurt you. I just...I loved him so much. But I'm so, so sorry."

"I'm sorry too. There was never a future between Jack and me. You two were clearly meant to be together. And I'm sorry that I made you feel bad about that."

She wiped tears off her cheeks. "God, I'm such a mess. Pregnancy hormones are insane."

But I was crying too. Because it really felt like I had just let something go. And I could breathe a little easier. I wrapped my arms around her.

I couldn't help but think that my dad would be proud of me. He was never able to forgive Elena. But that wasn't for his own pain. He hadn't forgiven her because of how she had hurt me. And I loved him even more for that.

Chapter 54

Hailey

Thursday

I threw up again that morning. And now I was standing in the drug store staring at all the different pregnancy test options. Even though I definitely wasn't pregnant.

The things Claire had said last night about love had really resonated with me. People did crazy things for love all the time. If I left this town, maybe I did have somewhere to go. I could live near the Marine Corps training base. I would be able to see Tyler more often. And if I was really pregnant...I immediately shook away the thought. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be.

But I still pulled one of the tests off the hook and placed it in my basket. I had driven out of town to get the test. If I had gone to the local pharmacy, everyone would be talking about it. Word would probably still get back to town, but it would take a while. Maybe I'd be in California by then. I just needed to wait for Tyler's phone call. Or his first letter back to me.

I checked out and climbed back in my car. I turned on the ignition and started driving back to town. Claire had spent all of last night helping me pack up the rest of the house. It was easier to do it with someone else. Especially someone who I hadn't realized how much I missed. It truly felt like we were friends again. She had sent Jack over to help this morning with moving boxes to the bar. Which was the first time in years that it hadn't been awkward to see him.

And Anna had sent her son Billy to help move everything too. I congratulated Billy on getting into college. And he laughed for about five minutes and asked what the hell I was talking about. Apparently he had already been taking classes at a local trade school and had known he wanted to be an electrician for years.

I had told him his mom asked for a raise just a few weeks ago because he had gotten into school. Which made him laugh some more. He said she probably just said the first thing that she could think of so that I wouldn't suspect anything. Apparently my dad and her had pretty much been in a relationship since I had gone off to school. It made me feel better that they had never explicitly told Billy either, though. Billy had just been a much better detective than me.

For the first time since my dad had died, I didn't feel so alone. There were people in this town that still cared about me. It was better to talk to people instead of shutting everyone out to grieve by myself. Because really, this whole town was grieving with me. This town was everything to me. But I was going to take a crazy chance on love. After all, my dad wanted me start opening up my heart. I could feel him rooting for Tyler and me.

I pulled into the parking lot of the bar and put my car into park. There were cars everywhere. Anna must have decided to open the bar for the night. She had mentioned it earlier, but I told her I wasn't up for it. I glanced down at my phone. That was my other new nervous habit. Checking my phone constantly, hoping Tyler would call me. He'd call me soon. I nodded to myself as I climbed out of the car.

When I walked into the bar, everyone started clapping.

For a brief second, I thought that Claire had told the whole town I was pregnant or something.

But she immediately ran over to me and hugged me. "We raised the money!" she shouted over the music.

"What?"

"To keep the bar open."

I'm pretty sure my jaw actually dropped. "What? How?"

"We all pitched in. I mean, it's just enough for a few months. But if business is good, it'll survive on its own." She was beaming.

"You guys didn't have to do that."

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