“Why didn’t you tell the rest of us?” Hunter asked.
“Hell, I don’t know. Maybe talking about it hurt too much. Plus, Abby hadn’t told anyone, and I guess I was hiding it out of respect for her.”
“She never told Arabella she was pregnant? Greer? They were all friends.”
I shook my head. “No. At least, I don’t think so. Greer has never once mentioned it. I don’t talk to Arabella that often. She’s super sweet when I do run into her or stop by the apiary, though.”
“Greer told Kyle how hurt she was that Abby stopped talking to her. Arabella, of course, pulled back from everyone when she pulled back from me.”
Our gazes met. “Hunter, do you think something happened to her while she was at school?”
I could see it on his face. A mixture of hurt and anger in his eyes. It was a look I had seen often in the mirror. He gave me a small nod. “Yeah, I do. I don’t know if she met someone and cheated and then felt guilty, or if it was…”
His voice trailed off.
Hunter cleared his voice and went on. “I asked her folks once, and they told me it was between me and Arabella, and that if she wanted to talk to me about her reasons for the breakup, she would. I left it alone after that. I could tell James and Sharon were just as upset as I was, and the last thing I wanted to do was put them in the middle of it all. They were like my second parents.”
I nodded. “That’s how I feel about Pete and Crystal. I stopped asking them when it became clear they were just as hurt. I mean, Abby up and left them as well.”
“How’s the flower farm doing?”
“Good, I guess.” I stared out at the sun reflecting off the buildings in front of us and wondered if Abby could possibly be in one of them. “I try to give them a call about once a month. Pete texts to let me know when Abby’s in Boggy Creek, because I used to just stop by. I don’t anymore; now I just run into them around town once in a while. Sucks, really. I miss visiting them.”
“Has Abby been back lately?”
Shaking my head, I replied, “Not that I know of. Pete hasn’t texted me. He was pretty angry with Abby. She pissed off a lot of people by leaving, not just me.”
Hunter dropped his head back on the chair. “Women. Christ Almighty. My heart still feels like it beats for Arabella no matter how many times I tell myself I feel nothing toward her. A few months back, I stopped by the apiary. Seeing her…it breaks my fucking heart. Maybe you’re better off with Abby not being in Boggy Creek.”
I let out a frustrated breath. “What in the hell do we do now?”
Hunter laughed gruffly. “If I remember right, we made a vow last night to move on. Seeing as I’m clearly never going to settle down with anyone, I don’t think I’ve mastered that one yet.”
Fuck my life. If Hunter still wasn’t able to move on from Arabella nearly eleven years later, how in the hell would I ever do it?
I stood and hit the side of his arm. “Come on, we’ve got a fishing boat to catch.”
Abby
I stood in front of the large picture window in Carol’s condo and stared out over the bay. The slow movement of the water had always made me feel at peace, and Carol had one of the best views of the Boston harbor. A strange feeling spread throughout my body, and if I didn’t know any better, I would swear Bishop was in the same room as me.
Shaking the feeling away, I focused on a boat that was heading out, most likely a fishing charter. The way the bay captured the sunrays made it look like bursts of light coming off the water, and as the boat went through, it left a clear path in its wake. The water had always had a calming effect on me. It was one of the reasons I’d stayed in Boston. I would sit for hours and just stare off into the ocean. Bishop and I took a fishing charter on our honeymoon, and I had never had so much fun. The ocean always reminded me of Bishop.
“What are you thinking about, Abby?”
I closed my eyes and fought to keep my tears back. Carol was one of the first people I’d met when I made the move to Boston.
No, when I ran away to Boston.
She was a couple’s therapist, although at the time, I hadn’t known that. We’d met at a beginners’ knitting class. I went to keep my mind busy; Carol went to slow hers down.
Sighing, I spun around and leaned against the window seat. “What do you think?”
She smiled. “Did you give any thought to what we talked about last week?”
I nodded. Carol tried her best not to “treat” me, but sometimes the therapist in her came out. Truth be told, she’d been a godsend. Looking back now, I could see that. I had buried so much, and she had slowly gotten me to open up and talk about things over the last year and a half. I never did go to her for official sessions, but she’d helped me in more ways than one.
“And?” she asked with one raised brow.
“I didn’t call him. He stopped calling me so long ago, I doubt he’d even take my call. He was so angry at the divorce hearing.” I blew out a breath. “Besides, this isn’t something I feel like I can do over the phone. I need to talk to him in person.”
She nodded. “I know that, and I agree with you. What happened when you went to Boggy Creek that one time to talk to him? You never told me. You came back and simply said he’d moved on, and you needed to as well. What changed your mind because when you left, you were hell-bent on talking to him and working things out. What happened?”
I chewed on my thumbnail before I realized what I was doing. I dropped my hands and let them hang down at my sides. Swallowing hard, I ignored her observation. “I, um…I never talked to him, no. But I did see him, and he was with someone.”
She raised a single brow. “With someone? As in dating?”
Looking away, I shrugged. “They sure didn’t seem like they were just having a friendly chat.”
“I see,” she said softly. “That explains your sadness when you came back to Boston.”
It was time to change the subject. The last thing I wanted to talk about was seeing Bishop with another woman. “I called my parents last night and told them I was moving back home as soon as I found someone to sublet my place.”
A grin appeared on Carol’s face. “What did they say?”
“They were happy, of course. My mother was more excited, my father a bit rougher around the edges.”
Her grin turned to a slight frown. “As expected. You did up and leave them high and dry to run the flower farm on their own.”
I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for the reminder.”
“That’s what friends are for. Did you happen to call any of your old friends, since you didn’t call Bishop?”
“No,” I whispered.
“Why not?”
I gave a half shrug. “Mostly because I’m afraid they won’t want to talk to me. Or maybe I’m afraid they’ll tell me something about Bishop I don’t really want to know.”
“But if you move back and Bishop is with someone else, you need to deal with that. Are you going to be able to deal with that, Abby?”
Swallowing hard, I answered, “I think so. I mean, I have to, right? That’s why I’m going home. I can’t keep living my life like this, pretending I’m okay. The only way I can move on is to go back and face what I was running away from. I hope that Bishop will at least let me talk to him, to apologize for what I did. Maybe he’ll let me explain, or maybe he’ll tell me to fuck off.”