“Oh. Okay. Lunch? Drinks?”
I chuckled. My sister was in detective mode again.
“Drinks wouldn’t sound bad.”
“Ugh. Day drinking. Shit hit the fan. I’m your girl,” Tess said immediately.
“Thanks.”
Not for the first time, I was deeply grateful for my family—that we were ready to drop whatever we were doing when one of the group needed anything. Sometimes it was a serious problem, sometimes it was just moral support, like now.
“Want me to see if anyone else from the family has time?” she asked.
“Sure, why not?”
“Where are we meeting?”
“My place? I’m not really in the mood to see other people.”
“Yeah, I agree. Plus, we won’t get all those judgy looks for day drinking.”
I laughed, already feeling marginally better. Honestly, I could have skipped the drinks part. I just needed my family.
I arrived at the apartment half an hour later. My first instinct when I walked in was to look around for Laney. Fuck. Maybe coming here hadn’t been my best idea. I was suffocating.
I saw her everywhere. The couch, the kitchen counter, the table. I didn’t even want to think about the bedroom. My best memories here were with her. I swallowed hard, staring at the floor.
For an excruciating second, I imagined what it would feel like to come home if Laney told me she couldn’t see us having a future together, and I couldn’t bear the thought. I had to focus on something else because that sensation of suffocating was intensifying. It was like a physical weight on my chest, spreading up my throat. I leaned against the mirror at the entrance, feeling completely lost for the first time in my life.
I swept my gaze over the apartment again, zeroing in on the kitchen island that also dubbed as bar. Fuck it, no! I couldn’t stay here tonight. I called Tess the next second.
“Changed my mind. Not my place,” I said.
There was a pause before my sister answered.
“Okay, how about mine? We can take the party there.”
“I like that.”
“So Skye can’t come, but Ryker and Hunter are game.”
“Perfect.”
Yeah, this was sounding better by the second. I’d be surrounded by my gang.
I Ubered to Tess’s place, in no mood to face the trains during rush hour. Sure, being stuck in traffic wasn’t a pleasure, but I preferred it. To take my mind off everything, I conversed with the driver during the entire ride, listening intently to his life story.
Tess was already at her apartment when I arrived. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Her brown eyes were focused on me. The worry in them slayed me.
“Come on in, brother. The boys are on their way, and I asked them to buy some reinforcements, but look what I found. Remember?”
She held up a bottle of Jose Cuervo, a big grin on her face. Despite my deep misery, I burst out laughing, remembering that evening. We’d all helped Tess move in, opening boxes and shuffling around furniture. At around seven o’clock, I’d declared that I wanted some reinforcement from Mr. Cuervo, and then I’d carry on.
Famous last words.
The rest of the gang had a drink with me. We were so tired that after two shots, we fell asleep.
We woke up the next morning with stiff backs and necks, and still a bunch of boxes to open. It had been a fun night, though.