“What? She needs to know it all so she has an idea of what she’s walking into. She’s gonna have to fight to win that boy back.” Candace looked at me. “My money is on you, though. I think you’ve got this woman. She isn’t nearly as pretty as you. But then the whole single-mom thing attracts some men… Why, I don’t know.”
“Candace!” Arabella cried out.
Greer covered her face with her hands and groaned. “God, Candace.”
“She’s a single mom? And Bishop is dating her? Who is it?” I stood and started to pace.
Greer stood as well. “She’s not from Boggy Creek.”
Arabella followed Greer’s lead. “She’s a botanist or horticulturist. Or something like that. She’s been at your folks’ flower farm a few times.”
Greer nodded. “That’s how she met Bishop—going to the tree farm. Something about a beetle or something. She works for the state.”
“Jax?” I asked.
The three of them stared at me with open mouths.
“You know her?” Greer gasped.
“My mom said there was a horticulturist in the greenhouse with my dad yesterday. Her name was Jax.” I closed my eyes and dropped my head back. “Oh my God. Her behavior now makes so much sense.”
“What do you mean?” Greer probed.
I let out a frustrated laugh and fell back onto the sofa. “She didn’t want me to meet this Jax. She did everything in her power to keep me from even seeing her, actually. Then, when my father walked in, he…” Furrowing my brows, I shook my head. “That bastard. He laughed and told me I had shit timing.”
Candace jumped up. She put her hands on her hips and nearly growled, “Your father said that to you?”
“What?” Greer gasped. “Pete said that?”
I nodded. “He still hasn’t forgiven me for leaving.”
“Sounds like someone needs a bit of Jesus in his life,” Candace mumbled.
I pressed my hand to my stomach and started to rock back and forth. “Oh my God. Oh. My. God. What am I going to do? No, wait—I knew this was a possibility. It’s okay…” Tears built in my eyes and I forced myself to keep repeating that it was okay. “I knew…I knew there was a chance I could have lost him. I still need…I need…” My voice cracked, but I went on. “I still need to tell him.”
Greer sat on the coffee table and grabbed my hand. “No, you have not lost him. Listen, I saw how torn up Bishop was when you left. Kyle and Hunter tried to help him, but…well…let’s just say Bishop wasn’t in a good place for a long time. He kind of lost his mind for a bit, got a little crazy, and wasn’t exactly innocent when it came to hooking up with random women.”
I blinked rapidly. “If you’re trying to make me feel better, you’re doing a bad job, Greer.”
“I’m just being honest with you. Bishop did sleep around, but not as much as people say. He’s a big flirt—which he’s always been—but with him being single, folks just assume he’s—”
Arabella shot Greer a dirty look and cut her off. “What I think Greer is trying to say, Abby, is don’t give up hope. Just because he’s found someone who’s made him look twice for the first time since you, it doesn’t mean he’s in love with her.”
I brought my hand to my mouth and gagged.
“You made her sick!” Candace yelled. Grabbing my hand, she dragged me over to a small trash can. I dropped to my knees and threw up.
Someone rubbed their hand over my back. When I had finally emptied my stomach, I dropped back onto my ass and looked up at Arabella. Her blue eyes were filled with so much love. I hated that I had walked away from her. Especially knowing how much she’d needed me.
“I’m so sorry I left, Bella. Do you forgive me?”
A tear slipped free as she sat down and reached for my hands. “Of course I do, Abby.”
“What if I’ve lost him? What if I’m too late?”
She looked over at Candace and Greer and then back to me. “Just know that the three of us are here for you.”
Greer sat down next to us and then looked up at Candace.
Candace snorted. “Okay, these are like $250 jeans. You really want me to sit on the ground in them?”
“Candace!” Greer growled.
She sat down, and Arabella squeezed my hands. “You’re not alone anymore, Abby.”
The tears came again as I practically threw myself at the three of them.
Candace turned my head toward Greer and whispered, “Cry on her ten-dollar sweatshirt, sweetie.”
Bishop
Kyle opened the door to his duplex and blinked a few times. “Bishop? What in the hell time is it?”
I pushed past him. “I don’t know, early.”
“The fuck are you doing here at the crack of dawn, dude?”
I made a beeline for his kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and grabbed a beer.