Page 129 of Tragic (Lark Cove 3)

“Are you going straight there?”

“Uh, yeah. Why?”

“No reason.” He shrugged. “I’m just heading down right behind you.”

“Okay. See you there.” I let myself out of his house and waddled carefully across their driveway to my SUV. I climbed inside and let the heater run for a moment before pulling up Adam’s number on the dash.

It only rang once before he answered. “Pip?”

“Adam.” I sighed. “You can’t email my boss.”

“I needed to talk to you.”

“Five minutes.” I put the Tahoe in reverse and backed out of the driveway slowly. I’d give Adam the time it took me to get to the bar.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “That’s it. I just wanted to say I was sorry.”

My foot hit the brake and I waited a few seconds for the excuses. But he said nothing. “Are you there?”

“I’m here.”

“That’s it? Just . . . you’re sorry?”

“Well, I had more, but your boyfriend called me earlier and told me that if I said anything other than I’m sorry, he’d be on the first flight out to New York to rearrange my face. He was . . . convincing.”

I snorted a laugh. Kaine’s threat had to have been quite colorful for Adam to actually hear it.

“He also informed me that if you did call, it would be the last time we spoke.”

“No more emails either,” I warned.

“No more emails.”

I lifted my foot off the brake, navigating down the narrow road that led to the highway. Divorcing Adam had nearly broken me. But in a small way, I was grateful. Because here I was.

Home.

I’d found the love of my life, and even if we didn’t get married, the commitment we had for one another was stronger than the bond I’d worked a decade to build with Adam.

“Good-bye, Adam. I wish you the best.”

“Same to you, Piper. Take care.”

I ended the call right as I reached the stop sign to turn onto the highway. But before I did, I pulled up Adam’s contact one last time. And hit delete.

“One last thing to do this year,” I told the empty car, then drove it to the bar.

Kaine’s truck was in the parking lot, which was a surprise. I thought I’d beat him here and kill some time helping Thea with whatever decorating she wanted to do. When I pushed through the door, he was sitting at the bar with a glass of ice water in front of him and a second waiting in front of the stool at his side.

“Is this for me?” I asked, taking the seat. “You’re here early.”

“Hi.” He leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Yeah, finished up fast. Got here a couple of minutes ago.”

“Where is everyone?” It was still early, but I’d expected to see at least Thea or Jackson behind the bar.

“Kitchen. Thea’s prepping pizzas. Jackson went to change a keg of beer.”

“Ahh.” I sipped my water and glanced around the room. Since I’d stopped in yesterday, Thea had added more streamers to the iron beams that ran across the ceiling and she’d sprinkled confetti on all the tables.