Page 29 of Break Away
Bliss closed the register with careful hands. “Easton.”
I hated how gentle she sounded.
“Look, I know he hurt her. I don’t know—he cheated on her or something. I’m not asking you to tell me more,” I said, even though part of me was absolutely asking. “I just need to know if I hit that nerve.”
Bliss’s face hurt to look at. “You don’t need details to know you shouldn’t have said what you said.”
My throat worked, but nothing came out right away.
Ryan’s chair creaked as he shifted. “What did Darian do?”
Bliss shook her head. “That’s not mine.”
I nodded once, but the movement felt useless. My mind kept pulling up Aura’s face, the way she had gone silent before she got loud, the way her hands shook around those baskets, and the way she told me I didn’t get her name soft after that.
I had thought I wanted to hurt her, but I hadn’t known what I was asking for.
Briggs pushed his plate away, his appetite gone. “Okay, then what do you do with that?”
I laughed under my breath. “That sounds dangerously close to a feelings question.”
“That’s why I hated asking it.”
“You apologize,” Rider said.
My head turned toward him. “Just like that?”
“No, you’ll probably make it weird first.”
Briggs nodded. “You will absolutely make it weird first.”
Rider kept his eyes on me. “But yes. You apologize for that part.”
“That part,” Ryan said, pointing at Rider like he needed the distinction on record. “You apologize for hitting something you didn’t understand. You do not have to apologize for being hurt.”
Cade looked at Ryan. “That might be the most balanced thing you’ve said all year.”
Ryan leaned back. “I’m retired from college drama. I have range now.”
“You’re twenty-three,” Briggs said. “Stop calling yourself retired before my knees hear you and get ideas.”
I stared down at the bar. “My mom comes in day after tomorrow.”
That shut them up faster than I expected.
Briggs’s expression changed first, softening around the edges. “Gayle’s coming?”
“Yeah. Skylar and Vivi too. They’re driving up Friday morning.”
Cade leaned his hip against the bar. “For the game?”
“For the game, for the C, for Cade’s return, for the whole damn circus.” I rubbed the back of my neck, the tightness there spreading between my shoulders. “Skylar’s already texting me about what she should wear like anyone in that arena is going to survive telling a fourteen-year-old girl she can’t dress like a tiny menace. Vivi’s excited, but my mom said the drive might be rough if the routine gets messed up, so I need to make sure the hotel is right, the food is right, the noise is manageable, and everything doesn’t go sideways before Friday.”
Briggs’s face softened more. “Vivi okay with crowds now?”
“Sometimes. Depends on the day. Depends on the lights. Depends on whether someone breathes wrong near her.” I blew out a breath and shook my head. “I’m not worried about her. I know how to handle Vivi. I’m worried about my mom pretending she’s fine because she doesn’t want me worried about her, and Skylar pretending she doesn’t need anything because she thinks needing things costs too much.”
Ryan’s voice quieted. “How much are you sending home right now?”
