He shook his head. “Nah. I’ve got this covered. But thanks.”
“Okay.” It felt weird, talking to him, but not being with him anymore. They’d been through years of friendship, then years of being a couple. And now they were just . . .
She didn’t know what they were anymore, but she just felt empty. She thought this meeting would go differently. She thought she was going to walk away from him with a clean slate, a new start.
And now?
Now everything was different.
“Let me know if you need anything, okay?”
“I need you to quit being nice to me. Not after what I did.”
Through all this she’d learned that everything wasn’t such a huge deal, and if life didn’t turn out like she envisioned, her world wasn’t going to come to an end. So as Owen walked her to the door, she turned to face him and smiled. “Sometimes life throws us a curve we didn’t expect. We deal with it and adapt, you know?”
“Do I ever.”
“Okay, so you and I? We’re dealing. And we’ll both be fine.”
“Yeah, we will.”
She did something she hadn’t expected to do. She put her arms around him and hugged him. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
He hugged her back. “Okay.”
When she pulled away, she held on to his forearms. “Call me if you need me.”
“Sure.”
She felt the insincerity in his answer. “I mean it, Owen.”
“I will.”
She left, not feeling at all like she thought she would. She thought she’d feel free and light. Instead, she felt devastated and out of sorts. She couldn’t talk to Jason because he didn’t know, and he should hear the news from Owen himself.
So, instead, she went home, snuck up the stairs so she didn’t have to talk to her family and closed the door to her bedroom so she could think. Her mind was whirling with all that Owen had told her. All her feelings were a jumbled mess now.
Did she still love him? No. She already knew that. But she felt so bad that it had all turned out this way.
She had to do something to make it better. She didn’t have that closure she’d gone for.
So now what?
CHAPTER
thirty
JASON COULDN’T FIGURE out what was going on, but something was definitely off with Erin. She’d texted him and told him he needed to talk to Owen, that she couldn’t tell him what they’d talked about. And then she’d told him she needed some alone time to think.
It was odd, and left him feeling like something major had happened between Erin and Owen. He left her alone that night, but she hadn’t called him or answered his calls the next day. He’d expected her to come see him. Instead, she was avoiding him and it was making him crazy not knowing what was going on.
Since she wasn’t talking to him, he was going to have to talk to Owen. He called Owen, who said he should come over, so Jason made his way over to his apartment that day after he got off work. Owen was there by himself, which was good because Jason intended to get to the bottom of what went down between Erin and him yesterday.
Only he hadn’t expected the outcome he got after he and Owen had a detailed conversation about exactly why Owen had called off the wedding. He’d gone in a little wary, maybe even more than pissed off, and had been reduced to devastation and tears.
He swiped at his eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Owen shrugged. “Man, I was a mess. I didn’t tell anyone. Not even Erin, the one person I should have told.”
“How did she take it when you told her?”
“Not good. She was upset, and worried about me. And we had a long talk about our relationship.”
Jason felt a twinge in his gut, part of it jealousy and the other part hoping that they’d both gotten closure.
He shouldn’t have been thinking about himself at all. Not with what Owen was going through, and knowing how upset Erin likely was after she’d found out about Owen’s diagnosis.
“And?”
“We both realized our relationship had run its course, but neither of us had recognized it at the time. I had wanted to talk to her about how I felt, but this disease had wrecked me, left me confused and foggy, so I didn’t know what the hell I was feeling. And Erin was so caught up in all things wedding that she couldn’t see the forest for the trees, ya know?”
He felt bad as the relief washed over him. “Yeah. I’m sorry for the way things worked out for you and Erin.”
“Thanks. I’m just sorry I hurt her. I was a mess and I didn’t handle the diagnosis well. I hurt a lot of people. You included.”
Jason shrugged. “How the hell do you handle being told you have cancer? You did the best you could, man.”
“I guess. I don’t know. I’m struggling with this.”
He didn’t know how to help his best friend. “I’m here for you. If you want to just come over to my house and throw rocks, we’ll do that.”
Owen studied him for a few seconds, then said, “There’s a new axe-throwing place in town. I’m thinking of adding that feature to the brewery.”
Jason laughed. “Yeah, just what you need. A bunch of drunks throwing axes at your head.”
“You might have a point.”
But now that he’d mentioned his brewery and pub, something occurred to Jason. “What about The Screaming Hawk? Do you need help with the brewery or the pub?”
Owen shook his head. “Nah, I’ve got it covered. I still intend to work, and my people there have been awesome about stepping up since I’ve been sick.”
“You also have friends who will step up when you need it. So don’t be afraid to ask.”
“Thanks. I’ll let you know.”
And maybe Jason wouldn’t wait to be asked.
Because that’s what friends were for. Something he needed to be better at. Especially for Owen. Because with one conversation, everything had changed. And right now, no matter what had happened, or how he felt about Erin, it was Owen who needed him.
CHAPTER
thirty-one
ERIN HAD SLIPPED out of work a few hours early on Tuesday to go with Owen for his treatment appointment. She’d finally told her family everything about what had gone down with Owen, and even her father had mellowed.
“If that boy needs anything, we’ll do it,” her dad had said, which was completely different from his earlier sentiments of wanting to throttle Owen.
“Does he want you to go with him?” Brenna had asked as Erin packed up a tote bag filled with healthy snacks.
“Well, no, but he might like some company. And his parents both work, so the more people diving in to share the load, the easier it’ll be on everyone. Plus, I can spare a few hours.”
“We all could,” Honor said. “So if you need me to pitch in, just let me know.”
“Thanks.”
She knew Owen hadn’t asked for help, but she couldn’t just sit by and do nothing. And she’d already talked to Owen’s mom, Gwen, and gotten all the info on his cancer treatment. After, they’d both cried with each other on the phone.