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Chapter 36
Reece
Later that night, I ripped up a weed from the vegetable patch, but it didn’t give me the usual satisfaction. My stomach felt hard and empty. At least it was quiet down here and I could hear myself think. A cough sounded from overhead. Miri hovered over me. She passed me a hot mug of tea. Gabe towered next to her with my tiny newborn nephew swaddled fast asleep in a blanket.
Miri hovered for a moment before she settled on the shed step next to me. The chirrups of the sparrows on the bird feeder filled the silence.
Miri glanced at me. “What’s going on? You’ve packed up your office? Is everything okay?”
I tried to think of something to say to reassure her, but the truth slipped out instead. “Not really. No. I’m not okay.”
Miri frowned. “Is it about the bet? Gabe is going to talk to everyone about that. We just need to get through this final match.”
Silence wrapped around us and I watched the tall sunflower husks bending gently in the breeze.
I cleared my throat. “I got bullied all the way through school. Did you know that?”
Silence thickened and the sound of the wind rustling in the sunflowers filled my ears.
“I knew it was difficult for you… I didn’t know how bad.” Miri’s voice was soft.
“When you told me about the bet, it made me feel like I was back there. Dad had just died. I had to keep going to school and pretending that everything was okay. The whole time I was just so… powerless and out of control. I can’t stand to be made fun of like that. To think that everyone is laughing at me. You put me on that dating app because you think I’m a joke.”
Miri paled. “No. It was just a bit of fun. We want to see you happy after Megan, that’s all. I’m sorry. You know Frankie gets out of hand sometimes. Her heart is in the right place.”
Gabe stepped forward, his expression unusually earnest. “Nobody is laughing at you, mate. It was just some daft joke from Lana that escalated.”
Miri nodded. “That’s right. That team is a bunch of messy bitches sometimes. Life is messy, Reece.”
Yes. It’s definitely that.
I took a breath. They’d find out sooner or later. Better coming from me than someone else. “When you came home from the hospital and you thought I had Megan in my room, it was Skylar.”
Miri chuckled. “Skylar?”
I nodded.
The smile died on her lips when she saw that I wasn’t laughing along with her. Her eyebrows shot up. “Skylar? As in Skylar Marshall?”
“Yes. Skylar Marshall.”
Miri frowned in confusion. “Really? But Skylar’s so… the two of you are so…”
A muscle worked in my jaw. “You don’t think somebody like Skylar could be attracted to me?”
Miri held her hands up. “I didn’t say that. It’s just… does she know you line up the mugs in color order in the cupboard?”
Gabe snorted. I turned my face away. Nothing about this situation amused me. My chest ached. I couldn’t strike from my mind the stricken expression Skylar had worn when she’d burst out of that wardrobe. I’d hurt her over and over again with rejections and by trying to hide this thing between us because of my own guilt. I’d damaged her by not maintaining the boundary between us. She’d needed a safe space, not a hookup.
Miri picked up an old watering can and twisted it in her hands. “How long has it been going on?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
Gabe cleared his throat. “You’re going to have to talk about it. I brought you in to counsel the team, not shag them.”
His eyes twinkled with humor. Of course he would find this amusing.
Miri watched me with a shrewd expression. “So, what does this mean? You’re resigning?”
