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Beyond that, the questions and the doubts, in the pit of ret If I had told her a year ago, a s be different now? It was the day before her wedding In twenty-four hours, she would be ?

I drove around for a while, into town and then along the water, then I went back to the house None of the cars were parked in the driveway, so I thought I was ho on the front porch

“Where is everybody?” I asked her

“Well hello to you, too” She pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head “They went sailing”

“Why didn’t you go with theet seasick” Taylor eyed me “I need to talk to you”

Warily, I eyed her back “About what?”

She pointed at the chair next to hers “Come sit down first”

I sat

“What did you say to Belly last night?”

AvertingBut I can tell soht Her eyes were co to bet ain Nice one, Conrad”

I could feel lared at me “Belly is my oldest friend in the world Of course it’syou, Conrad Leave her alone You’re confusing her Again”

I started to stand up “Are we done?”

“No Sit your ass back down”

I sat down again

“Do you have any idea how badly you’ve hurt her, over and over again? You treat her like a toy that you just pick up and play henever you feel like it You’re like a little boy Someone else took as yours, and you don’t like that one bit, so you swoop in and shit all over everything just because you can”

I exhaled “That’s not what I’ to do”

She bit her lip “Belly told me that a part of her will always love you Are you still trying to tell me you don’t care?”

She said that? “I never said I didn’t care”

“You’re probably the only one who could stop her fro But you’d better be damn sure you still want her, because if you don’t, you’re just effing up their lives for no reason” She put her sunglasses back on “Don’t eff up my best friend’s life, Conrad Don’t be a selfish bastard like usual Be the good guy she says you are Let her go”

Be the good guy she says you are

I thought I could do it, fight for her till the end, not think about anyone else Just grab her hand and run But if I did that, wouldn’t I be proving Belly wrong? I wasn’t a good guy I would be a selfish bastard just like Taylor said But I would have Belly next to ht, we all had dinner at a newish restaurant in town—ry, but I ordered a lobster roll and I ate every bite of it, and every fry, becauseHe insisted