Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
“No worries,” I replied.
“You like Italian, right?” Henry asked.
Did he not remember? “Yeah. And it’s your favorite. You used to always pick it up for us before we would hide from the world.” There was a sharp bitterness on my tongue I hadn’t expected.
“I know. I don’t know why I said that. I remember. I didn’t know if you would.”
“What are we doing here?” It wasn’t that I still had feelings for Henry at all. Those had ended a long time ago. Even if there wasn’t a Jude and he didn’t have his wife, I knew Henry wasn’t the one for me, but I also wasn’t sure I wanted to be friends with him. Wasn’t sure I wanted to hang out with him, especially not knowing where it was coming from and how he felt, considering he had a wife.
The waiter approached, and Henry ordered a bottle of wine I had no plans on drinking. Hell, I didn’t even like the stuff. I was more of a beer guy myself. I asked for water, and then the waiter gave us bread and oil before asking if we’d had time to look over the menu.
“Do you know what you want?” Henry asked.
“I’m simple. Just spaghetti for me.”
He ordered something I didn’t know how to pronounce, and the waiter disappeared again.
“How’s Dee?” I asked about his wife.
Henry frowned slightly, this sort of panicked look in his eyes. “She’s, um…great. Kids too.”
“Has the new baby come yet?”
“No. She’s due in February.” He still didn’t look at me, his eyes darting around like he wasn’t sure what to do with them. “That’s actually why we’re here. Dee and I need to have some work done on the house. We’re looking to remodel and add another room. We thought maybe we could hire Burke Construction for the job.”
Ah, hell, this was not a good idea. Not a good idea at all. Something felt…off about it. Again, not because I had feelings for him, but because at one time, we had meant something to each other. We’d meant everything to each other, and he’d broken it off with me to be with her, and told me it was me he wanted to be with, that it was me he would always love, but he needed to marry a woman. “Why isn’t your wife at this meeting with us?”
“She wants me to handle the hiring.”
“I think you should look for someone else,” I said honestly.
Henry frowned. “Why? I need a service, and you can provide it. There’s nothing more here. That was…that was a long time ago.”
“Even still.” Hell, I probably shouldn’t have come, but I’d been curious why he wanted to meet, and I’d also wanted to make sure he was okay.
“How is that guy…Justin? Was that your boyfriend’s name?”
I was pretty sure he knew Jude’s name wasn’t Justin. “He’s doing great, thanks for asking. He’s…” I wasn’t even sure what to say. He was confident, yet insecure too. He was beautiful but didn’t see it. He was funny and kind and sucked at video games but liked puzzles.
“Oh God…” Henry cut into my thoughts. “You’re in love with him?”
I figured I was, but that sure wasn’t something I should tell Henry before I told Jude. Or hell, I wasn’t sure it was something I should talk with Henry about at all. “He means a lot to me.”
“I…” Henry started but didn’t finish right away. “I think about it sometimes…us. Do you ever think about it?”
Christ, this had been a really bad idea. My heart ached for him, but I was angry with him too. I hated that he was living a lie, but I also didn’t want to be pulled into any deception of his wife. She didn’t deserve that. “As you said, that was a long time ago. I don’t know what we’d get out of talking about it. I’m with Jude, and you’re married with children.”
Henry closed his eyes, and damned if I didn’t wish I could fix it. I hated to see anyone hurting. “There’s nothing wrong with who you are, Henry. Don’t you know that by now? You don’t deserve to live a lie, and your wife doesn’t either.”
“The kids… I… It’s fine. I’m happy. I don’t feel…those things anymore.”
“I think I should go. But if you ever need me, you know how to get ahold of me. Not for doing a remodel on your home, but if you…need a friend or need help working through things, I can help you find someone.”
It was as if he cut his emotions off. He looked almost blank, staring through me instead of looking at me. “That’s not what this was about. I don’t know why you turned it into that. I just wanted work done on my home.”
My chest hurt, and I felt…heavy. So fucking sad that he was so in denial, filled with so much self-hatred. I felt it for his wife too, because as far as I knew, she had no idea.