19. Theo

19

THEO

I wake up the next morning in my hotel room, alone in my bed, as predicted.

Except I am not empty. No, I am full of thoughts of Abigail.

Because it's not over. Not yet. We made our promises on the beach last night under a sky so full of stars that will live on for thousands more years than we will. A promise to the cosmos.

Bonnie and I get ready for the after-wedding luncheon, which I can't believe is a tradition, especially given the way the reception was heading by the time I collected Bonnie and left. Seemed like they were going to be pulling an all-nighter with the energy they had.

I could have pulled an all-nighter too. Privately. With Abigail.

Of course, our circumstances don't allow for such luxuries.

Still, though, I'm looking forward to getting one more chance to see her before Bonnie and I head back to New York.

Along with the rest of her family, of course.

And Sonia… Gd, I should speak with her to try and clear the air.

Bonnie and I head over to the beach house on the earlier side of things. The young people are all laid out in various states of drunkenness from the night before.

"Where's Abigail?" Bonnie asks.

Thank god for my daughter who always seems to ask the question I have front of mind.

"Abigail's still asleep, last I checked." Sonia holds out her hand to Bonnie. "You want to come do a puzzle with me?"

Bonnie sighs. "I guess."

"Be nice, love," I say with a smile.

My eyes meet Sonia's for a brief moment. Similar standoffishness to last night when Abigail and I were dancing.

"How are you, Sonia?" I try to clear the air.

She smiles in a small way. "Edwin is out back."

I frown. "Okay?"

Sonia says nothing more, pulling Bonnie over toward the coffee table where a puzzle already lies half made.

Something isn't right.

I head through the remarkable beach house, the one owned by the groom's family, all the way out to the terrace.

Edwin stands with his back facing me, looking out at the ocean.

The tent has been taken away, and in its place are banquet tables. Decorators hurry around to get things in order, lots of tropical flowers and sparkling decorations.

"How you feeling, mate?" I approach my friend.

Edwin glances at me and holds up his cup of coffee with a soft smile. "If this is any indication…"

I chuckle and lean on the railing beside him. "Can't hold our own like we used to, can we?"

"No, we can't," he says, then looks down into his coffee.

I know my friend well. And I can tell when he's tense.

Something is wrong. I hope I don't know what. "You all right?"

Edwin bites on his lower lip. "I'm going to ask you this just once, Theo."

Bloody hell.

Edwin's dark onyx eyes find mine. He's petrifying when he's angry. Even more so when he hasn't chosen quite yet how angry he's going to be. "Are Abigail and you more than friends?"

"What? No. Of course not." It spills out of me, a reflex I acquired from years of having to protect my company from my brother's inane activities.

Edwin's mouth falls. "I told you, I'm only asking once."

"I know."

"So, you better tell me the truth."

"I am."

"Have you kissed my daughter?"

I glance back at the door to the house. Fucking Sonia. "Edwin, I don't know where you're getting your information, but–"

"Don't fucking lie to me, man," he says, ire sparking in his voice. His knuckles grow white around the mug of coffee.

There are two ways to go about this. The truth would be the easier way. The correct way. Yet, I can't find the strength to choose it. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Edwin's mouth curls into a sneer. "What if I told you Sonia saw you kissing her? What do you say to that?"

I cling to the lie, a foolish choice, but the one I make nevertheless. "I don't–"

"Are you calling my wife a liar?"

"No, but I think you're being–"

Edwin pitches the mug to the ground, coffee splattering across the deck, followed by shards of ceramic.

I step back, my eyes widening. I haven't seen this form of Edwin since my twenties, the bulldoggish man who would look for fights when no one was picking them.

"Dramatic? You think I'm being dramatic?" he yells, closing in on me.

"Bloody hell, mate. Obviously, you're being–"

Edwin grabs the collar on my shirt and, before I know it, I'm pressed up against the railing. "Tell the fucking truth."

"Edwin, what the bloody hell!"

"Have you kissed Abigail?"

His knuckles dig into the front of my throat, constricting my airway. " Edwin–"

With crazed eyes, he repeats, " Tell me the truth ."

"Yes!" I exclaim. "All right? Yes. Now let me go!"

Edwin's anger shatters, his lips dipping down, and his eyes turning sad. He pushes me away by my collar and turns around, head in his hands.

I rub at the front of my throat, a mixture of anxiety and relief inside me.

There. It's out. No more secrets.

What will happen now that it's out, though, I don't know.

"It was a mistake. I…we…"

Edwin scoffs. "It just happened? Is that what you're going to say?"

"Only because it's the truth. It was just a kiss. Once. I told her no more."

The hurt is evident on his face. "She followed you out of reception last night."

I can't hide the surprise on my face. I hadn't considered she hadn't been cautious in coming after me.

"You're telling me that it was out of kindness?" Edwin asks.

"It was out of a kindness, yes." Which isn't a falsehood.

The door to the inside opens. Jack sticks his head out, furrowing his darkened brow. "What's going on?"

"Ask him," Edwin says, tossing a hand in my direction.

"Come on, mate, it's not this serious." I try to smile.

"It's my daughter. Of course it's that serious. How would you feel if–"

A switch flips inside me. "Bonnie is a child. Abigail is a grown woman."

"Who you knew when she was a child, and now you're–you're–" Edwin gestures to the air. "God, have you done more than kissed her?"

Jack's expression shifts to horror. "Oh my god, you and Abigail?"

"Can we keep our voices down when we have this conversation? My daughter is inside if you recall," I try to reason.

"So is mine," Edwin says, jerking his thumb up toward the upstairs windows. "But since when have you cared about her being my daughter? "

I grab at my shirt. Want to rip it off. Clothes feel too constricting for the building panic inside me. "For fuck's sake, Edwin, I have considered it every moment that we've–"

Jack gasps. "So, the babysitting was a coverup for–"

"No! That's all genuine. I promise, I–we –"

Nate emerges from the house. "What the hell is happening?"

I run my hands over my face.

"Oh, Bugger all ." I've got an angry father and two brothers closing in on me.

"Theo and Abigail–" Jack starts to explain.

But I won't just stand here and be slandered like this. "Don't! You know nothing about it!"

Nate and Jack stare at me like I've just admitted to a felony.

"None of you know anything about it and instead of being reasonable, you're–"

Edwin jerks forward. "You want me to be reasonable when you've been fucking my daughter? "

Nate pulls Edwin back. "Dad, easy!"

"Oh, bite me, Lyons," I hiss at Edwin. "You're not so innocent yourself, what with your wife being–"

"I didn't know Sonia was Nate's girlfriend! That's the difference!" Edwin yells back. "You knew Abigail was mine from the beginning."

I laugh, dark and heavy. "She's not yours, mate. She's her own fucking person, and she made every one of her own decisions when it came to…to…" Fine. Out with it. "Us."

Edwin shakes his head. "I can't even look at you."

"Feeling is mutual." My gaze darts to Jack and then to Nate, both of them somewhere between incensed and bewildered. Still trying to catch up with the story.

I should get out of here before they catch on.

Without another word, I head back inside the house. "Bonnie!" I call out. "Bonnie, we're leaving."

Bonnie looks up from the puzzle, confusion amassed on her brow. "We just got here."

I look at Sonia who is knelt beside her, working on the puzzle.

Sonia cannot hold my stare. Coward.

"Yes, well, something came up," I say, going to her and grabbing her hand.

"Ow!" she yelps.

I mutter an apology for my grip being tight, dragging her through the house, past Laney and Camilla, past a groggy Bridget and Seth, not bothering to mutter goodbyes or congratulations.

By the time we get outside, Bonnie is in tears. "Why are you mad at me?"

"I'm not mad at you," I say, unable to modulate my tone, still so on edge from my confrontation with Edwin.

Bonnie doesn't deserve my fury, but I am only a man. I do all this fucking shit on my own. Take care of her, run a business, look out for everyone else. And the second I step out of line, the second I do something for me, I am a villain.

"Then why can't I stay and play?" She sobs.

I pick her up off the ground, but she is obstinate, refusing to give in, thrashing her limbs and letting her cry turn into a wail. "Blimey, Bonnie–"

"I want to stay! Why can't we stay?"

I get her to the rental car and plop her into her car seat.

"Bonnie, love…" I get control of my tone.

Bonnie twists away from me.

I touch her shoulder, and she shrugs me off. "Bon…"

"Why are you mad at me?" She sobs.

"I'm not mad at you. Not at all. I… Things are making me upset, but nothing to do with you."

She lets me run a hand through her hair.

"Not you at all."

Bonnie sniffles.

"We're going to go home now. All right?"

She doesn't say anything in return, but at least she's not fighting me anymore.

I buckle her in and close the door behind her.

That's when I hear my name.

In her voice.

Abigail.

"Theo!"

I look up, see her in one of the second-floor windows of the beach house.

Abigail reaches out and waves an arm at me. "I'll be down in a minute!"

I don't have the heart to tell her I won't be there when she's ready. Instead, I place my fingers to my lips, kiss my hand, and release it outward for her. The last kiss, probably.

And she doesn't even know it.

Abigail flushes. Puts her hand to her mouth, accepting the kiss, and disappears inside.

I drive off before the heartbreak can set in.