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He doesn’t look at me when he says it.
The last few barsof Rock Me Like a Hurricane by The Scorpions is blaring so loud I can feel the bass line rattling against my eardrums. I can see Tess. She’s got her back to me, shaking her ass while she operates the hydraulic lift, lowering the truck it’s suspending in the air. I can see DPG Design & Build stenciled onto the truck’s door panel. There are three more crowded into the bay and two more parked on the tarmac outside. As soon as the song is over, I speak.
“Cutting his brake lines?”
Tess yelps like a whipped puppy and jumps before turning on me with the biggest grin I’ve ever seen. His meaning Declan. “Sure am. Wanna help?” she says before scowling at me. “Where the fuck have you been, bitch? Your plane landed hours ago.”
“I know. Sorry…” I hold the bag out to her. “I come bearing bribes.”
She bats the bag away and launches herself at me, giving me the kind of hug that would put a boa constrictor to shame. “I'm serious, where have you been? Con dropped you off three hours ago.”
“On a date…” I tell her, laughing at the way she narrows her eyes at me. “with Patrick.”
“Forgiven!” she shouts, snatching the bag from my hand before plopping down onto the freezing concrete. “Sit,” she says, waving a hand at the grease-spotted floor she’s sitting on, practically bending her neck in half to look at me. “Jesus, I forgot how tall you are.”
I sit across from her and watch her rip the bag open, pulling a foil-wrapped burger and an order of onion rings. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she hasn’t eaten in days. She probably ate an hour ago.
“Where’s Con?” I say, aiming a glance at his office. The lights were off, and the door was shut.
“Don’t know,” Tess says around a mouthful. “He slammed around here for about an hour after he dropped you off and then took off.” She swallows and shrugs. “He’s been weird lately.”
I think about what Paddy said. About Conner being unhappy. For some reason, my mind lands on the call he sent to voicemail on the drive from the airport. I thought it was because he was driving. Now, I’m wondering if it was something more. “I’m sorry I left.” I blurt it out, not sure where it comes from. “I’m really, really sorry.”
Tess rolls her eyes. “Did he say something to you?” she says around an onion ring. “He’s such a bitch sometimes, I swear to god…” she wipes her mouth on one of the napkins Paddy stuck in the bag before wading it in her hand. “Look, I get it.” She gives me another grin. This one seems forced. “It sucks being here without you… I forgot what it was like to have a friend who didn’t pee standing up after Henley left. Then you came along, and it was nice… but then you left too.”
I don’t know who Henley is, but the name is one I’ve heard before. The same name that flashed across Con’s phone screen this morning. I want to ask about her but something tells me now isn’t the time. “I’m not leaving again,” I tell her. “I’m home for good.”
Tess grins. “Thank Christ,” she says around a mouthful of food. “I need more vagina in my life.”
That’s Tess. As delicate as ever.
“Well, hopefully I can offer you two-for-one,” I tell her my plan to get Grace to move here with Molly. As I talk, telling her about how Grace got pregnant in her senior year of high school and how she’s refused to tell anyone who the father is, Tess chews slowly, almost methodically, until she stops completely.
“It must’ve been hard for her,” she says quietly, wadding the foil wrapper her burger came in around what’s left. I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen Tess not finish the food in front of her. “Especially since the father didn’t stick around.”
“It was hard,” I say. “But Grace is a lot like you—once she makes up her mind, there’s no stopping her.” I shrug. “Besides, she had my parents. She was never alone—not really.”
Tess picks at something on the bottom of her boot. “They were supportive?” She doesn’t look at me when she says it.
“Well, not at first. At first, they freaked out—hardcore—but after the initial shock wore off and they realized she wasn’t going to name the father, they got down to the business of being grandparents.” I think about my niece and smile. “And Molly is no hardship. She’s probably the best thing that’s ever happened to our family.”
Something I say drains the color from Tess’s face. I open my mouth to ask her if she’s okay but the silence between us is filled with the clipped click of someone charging across the front tarmac at a fast walk. Tess looks up and over my shoulder. If I thought she looked pale before, it’s nothing compared to the way she looks now.
I’ve never seen Tess cry before. Even now, I’m not entirely sure that’s what I’m seeing. Her eyes are glazed over with a thin sheen of moisture, her hazel irises glittering in the half-light of the garage. Her gaze darts to the right for a second, looking over my shoulder. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” she says, knuckling away the errant tear before scrambling to her feet. I follow suit, turning to look over my shoulder just in time to watch Jessica walk through the open bay door, looking around like she’d just stepped onto an alien mothership. One that smells like hot garbage.
“I can’t deal with her right now.” On her feet, Tess dives for the truck she’s was working on before I showed up, grabbing a random tool from the chest beside it before disappearing under the hood.
“Finally,” Jessica says, her gaze landing on me and narrowing. She’s wearing a fur-lined coat, and a pair of skin-tight jeans tucked into knee-high leather boots. “I’ve been looking for you for hours.”
I look at Tess—all I can see of her is her coverall-covered backside—before looking at Jessica. “Me?” I say, shaking my head. “Why are you looking for me?”
“Seriously?” Jessica rolls her eyes, clicking her manicured nails against the knock-off Coach bag hanging from the crook of her elbow. “The wedding is in two months, and you haven’t made one dress fitting.” She looks exasperated, heaving a frustrated sigh at my blank stare. “You’re one of my bridesmaids—remember?” Now she’s talking to me like I bumped my head and she’s asking me what day it is.
“Yeah, I remember I was,” I tell her, trying hard not to grit my teeth. I don’t want to be in this skank’s wedding. I’d rather eat glass. “But I’ve been gone for almost a year. I figured you would’ve replaced me by now.”
“Replace you?” Jess laughs. “How could I replace you, silly? You’re one of my best friends... is that you, Tess?” she says, fluttering her left hand in our direction, making sure to show off her door-knocker of a diamond.
Best friends? Is this bitch kidding, right now?