Page 70 of Breathe Me In

I twisted the top onto the bottle and tucked my cold hands into the pockets of my long coat. “Both, I guess,” I confessed.

“You still care about him, don’t you?”

I lowered my head and felt that pang in my chest that I felt whenever I let myself go there. “Does it matter?”

“Actually, it does.”

“What does that mean?”

His face twisted like he was debating something. “Fuck it.” He turned toward me. “Brad’s still stuck in the past—he never got over that shit either. Sherry was there before the murders, and he only married her because he thought she’d help clear the day from his head.” A whistle from the ref drew our eyes to the ice. “I can tell ya, Bree, it didn’t work. He spiraled down a darker path, especially once he heard you’d left town without even a goodbye.”

“Yeah, that’s a bad habit of mine.” I thought about Dale and how I just ended everything without telling him the whole truth.

“I wish you two could see each other for what you are. You’re running toward your future, scared to look back, and he’s running backward, trying to find some kind of hope for what was.”

“Well, two people who run in opposite directions aren’t going to find the same ending.” I shrugged.

“Bree, Brad went dark and stayed dark. Like shut down, barely spoke. He worked out way too much and stayed late at the office every day. The only thing that seemed to bring him any joy was this rink and when he got Ginger. You know when I saw him truly come out of it?” I shook my head. “Recently, when you came back.”

“Kennedy—”

“It’s like this light is back in his face. He’s talking and smiling and—” He wriggled his shoulders as if they were tense. “Look, I don’t know about you, but I miss my friend, and I’ve been seriously worried about him.”

“I get that, Kennedy, and I know what a good friend you’ve always been to Brad, but what about my life and what I’ve built back in—”

“Sweet Lord, you’d think they’d add a little heat to this locker room–smelling rink,” Sherry said loudly to another woman as they took a seat at the bottom of the bleachers.

“I really do have the worst luck,” I muttered to Kennedy under my breath.

“What the hell! She never comes to the rink,” Kennedy whispered back. His face was scrunched in confusion.

“Well, I’m back, and apparently I’ve made Brad appealing again.”

He snorted and rolled his eyes. “She’s always made it known that she hates this sport and everything to do with it.”

I didn’t think she’d spotted me, and I wondered how I could possibly get down and out of there before she did. I looked for an escape but saw no way to get by her. I pulled my coat up around my neck and tried to look as small as I could. Kennedy grinned at me, and I wanted to swat him.

“Well, regardless, she’s here, and so am I. No matter what I do, I have a feeling this isn’t going to end well.”

“One can only hope,” Kennedy whispered.

“Yay, Bradley!” Sherry shouted and clapped her hands like a groupie, and Brad got bodychecked by a guy as his gaze flew toward the stands. As he got up off the ice, he looked directly at Kennedy and mouthed, “What the fuck!”

“Well, well, well, who do we have here?” Hayne’s voice caught my attention as he and Ronnie climbed the bleachers toward us. Sherry turned immediately to see the commotion as Ronnie sat next to me, and her look of distaste settled on me. I looked away so as not to give her the satisfaction of knowing how uncomfortable I was.

Kennedy stood and offered his hand to Brad’s brother. “Nice to see you, Ronnie.”

“You, too, man.” Ronnie smiled at me. “How are ya, Bree?”

“Great.” I smiled as Hayne went behind us and stepped down onto the seat next to me. It also wasn’t lost on me that Kennedy didn’t greet Hayne the same way he did Ronnie. In fact, the two of them didn’t greet each other at all.

“We meet again.” Hayne beamed down at me. “So about that Italian restaurant, as friends.” He held up his hands to stop me from making a comment.

“You sure are persistent about wanting to eat together.”

He squared his shoulders. “Yes, Bree, will you go to dinner with me?”

I felt Kennedy shift, then say, “Trouble.”