The Friends We Keep

The words hung out there. Not accusing, exactly, but expecting. She settled her hand on his head. Her fingers brushed his cheek. She felt the warmth of his skin and the prickliness of his stubble. Somewhere deep inside, the wall around her heart cracked just a little. Pain bled out, then faded.

There was so much more to deal with. Aches enough for five lifetimes. But maybe she was supposed to see the rainbow in the rain, she thought as she closed her eyes and whispered, “I love you, too.”





Chapter Twenty

Gabby stirred the chili. She’d made a double batch so she could freeze the other half for a future dinner. Once she started work, she had a feeling she was going to be scrambling. While she was only going to be working part-time, getting back into the groove was going to take some time.

She had the salad made and rather than bake corn bread, she’d bought it at the grocery store. It was still August—no way she was turning on the oven, except in case of a cookie or brownie emergency.

She glanced at the clock on the stove and wondered when Andrew would be home. When he was in town, he usually called or texted her a few times a day. Since their big fight over the weekend, that hadn’t been happening. She wanted to tell him to stop being so immature, but she wasn’t exactly reaching out, either. At some point one of them was going to have to call for a truce. She figured it would probably be her, but not just yet. While her head told her that their marriage was more important than the fight, her heart told her not to surrender her hard-won ground.

A sharp scream cut through the quiet of the house. Gabby froze for a heartbeat, then turned off the burner and ran to the stairs. The twins were up in their room, playing dress-up and Makayla was in hers doing whatever it was she did before dinner. Probably texting with friends. No one should be in a position to—

The scream came again. Gabby’s heart raced as much from fear as her speed. She hurried down the hallway and found the twins standing together, looking anxious. Kenzie pointed to Makayla’s door. Gabby shoved it open and stepped into the teen’s room.

Makayla stood by her bed holding her phone in her hand. Tears flowed down her cheeks. When she saw Gabby, the tears turned to sobs and she ran to her.

Gabby instinctively held out her arms. “What happened? Are you hurt? Are you bleeding?”

Makayla shook her head and burrowed into Gabby’s embrace. Her thin body shook as she cried as if broken in two. The twins came in and hurried over to hug Gabby. She knew it was only a matter of seconds until they, too, were in tears.

Gabby pulled free of the teen and led her to the bed. She had her sit, then settled beside her. She motioned for the twins to come next to her, where she put her arm around them.

“Tell me what’s wrong.”

Makayla sucked in air, then started to cry again. “B-Boyd,” she stuttered. “He’s gone.”

“What? Gone where?”

“Away. He’s gone.”

She held out her phone. Gabby took it and read the bluntly worded texts. Boyd had relocated to a prep school back East. He didn’t know when he would be returning to California, so they should probably break up. He ended the text with a casual hope you have a good summer.

Asshole, Gabby thought grimly as she handed back the phone.

“You didn’t know?” she asked before she could stop herself, then used her free arm to hug the teen. “Sorry. Of course you didn’t. Do you know when he left?”

“N-no.” Makayla wiped away tears even as new ones appeared. “He said he and his parents were visiting his grandmother, but he was only supposed to be gone four days. The last time I saw him, he didn’t say anything. He said he l-loved me and would be back soon.”

So he was a weasel and a coward. Gabby wished the kid was right there, so she could slap what she assumed was his smug face. She got that the decision to move hadn’t been his, but he could have told Makayla to her face.

“I probably have an email from his mother,” Gabby said.

Makayla turned to her. “Could you check?”

Because she was desperate for information. Boyd had been the girl’s first love. She’d assumed they would be together always. Now she was pregnant and alone. Talk about a nightmare.

Gabby nodded and rose. The twins came with her as she returned to the kitchen. Her laptop was on the small built-in desk she used. There were only a handful of emails waiting and one of them was from Lisa.

It was short and to the point. Boyd’s parents had decided it was best for him to be in a different environment, so they’d sent him to school out of state. They requested that Makayla not try to get in touch with him, that Boyd didn’t want anything to do with her or the baby. Paperwork would follow, releasing him of all rights to the child. In return, no support would be requested or expected. Blah, blah, blah. Have a nice day.

Gabby stared at the last sentence. “Have a nice day? What a complete and total—”

Aware of the twins standing right next to her, she pressed her lips together, but thought plenty of words. None of them were bad enough to describe Boyd’s mother, but it was the best she could do.