Out of Breath (Breathing, #3)(95)

‘The guys will be there.’ I laughed.

‘They’re useless,’ Nate said emphatically. ‘I’m telling you, you’d better come armed, especially if you bring Emma.’

I laughed again. ‘Sara will be back tomorrow, so Emma may want to stay here and catch up.’

‘Isn’t Jared coming back with her?’

‘Why is Jared coming back with Sara?’ Emma asked from within the living room. I poked my head through the square cut-out between the two rooms.

‘Hi,’ I said with smile. ‘How’d you sleep?’ I eyed her bare feet. ‘Shouldn’t you have your feet protected?’

‘I’ll wrap them in a minute, but they’re not that bad. And you didn’t answer my question.’

I glanced at Nate, who raised his brows quickly with a silent ‘good luck’ as he finished his beer in a long chug. ‘Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,’ he declared, patting me on the shoulder as he walked past.

I followed him into the living room. ‘Emma, this is quite the house,’ he admired casually. ‘The guy a few houses down is Mick Slater. He’s a big real-estate agent in the area and usually puts on a crazy fireworks display for the Fourth. You should throw a party. The guys and I will help you out if you want.’

Emma nodded in stunned silence. I laughed at the thought of her throwing a party. ‘We can talk about it, Em.’

‘Okay,’ she said uneasily.

‘Bye, Emma,’ Nate said on his way out.

‘Bye, Nate,’ I replied before he shut the door. I’d noticed he’d been a little more withdrawn around me the last few days, unable to truly look me in the eye. I wondered if I’d done something to upset him.

‘We don’t have to have a party here,’ Evan assured me, misreading the concerned look on my face. ‘But the guys are experts at throwing them without any damages. I think I’ve seen the fireworks he’s talking about, and this guy goes all out. I don’t know where he shoots them off from, but they feel like they’re going to rain down on the beach. And if you’re this close to him …’

‘Evan,’ I stopped him with a stern look. ‘My question. Why is Jared coming back with Sara?’

Evan rubbed his forehead, keeping his eyes on the floor. ‘He went to the funeral,’ he mumbled.

‘He what?!’ I demanded. ‘Why the hell would he do that? That’s so –’ I locked eyes with him – ‘like a Mathews. Wow, you guys don’t care where you’re not wanted, do you?’

‘Ouch,’ Evan said, shocked.

‘Sorry, sorry,’ I faltered. ‘I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.’

‘Well, I guess it’s true,’ Evan said, recovering. ‘You really didn’t want me at your mother’s funeral. And I’m certain Sara didn’t want Jared at her grandfather’s.’

I sat on the couch, my feet throbbing and my muscles aching from standing. I propped my feet up and leaned against the throw pillow to face Evan. ‘Why would he want to go, Evan?’ The image of him and that girl in the paper flashed through my head. ‘Isn’t he engaged? He needs to leave Sara alone.’

‘Engaged?’ Evan seemed to have no idea what I was talking about. Then his mouth rounded. ‘Oh! Shit. You saw that?’

‘Uh, yeah. You have no idea what that picture did to us … her. What it did to Sara. She was beyond pissed off.’ I clamped my teeth at my slipup, hoping he hadn’t caught it.

‘I’m sure she was,’ Evan noted, sitting on the love seat, facing me. ‘Wow. I can’t believe you saw that.’ Evan ran his fingers through his hair. ‘Jared tried to tell her, but she never let him.’

‘Tell her what?! That he was planning to spend the rest of his life with someone else? He should have told her that he was dating, forget about getting married.’

‘Hey!’ Evan scowled at me. ‘Sara’s the one who ended it with him before she took off to France. She keeps telling him she wants to be with him, but then breaks it off every time they’re more than a hundred miles apart. He had every right to move on.’

‘But he’s engaged!’ I stressed in frustration. ‘That’s a big difference.’

‘He’s not!’

I sat still, staring at him.

‘What?’ The confusion settled in. My heart was thumping wildly. All I could see was the image of Evan … with Catherine.

‘Jared’s not engaged, Emma. He never was. There was never anyone for him other than Sara. Believe me … he tried. It didn’t take.’

‘But the pic–’

‘Was my father,’ Evan explained with a disgruntled sigh. ‘Trina Macalroy was the daughter of a potential client. My father set her up with Jared. They dated for a while, but it was never that serious. She would have loved to be engaged to him, and my father’s ploy almost pushed Jared into doing it. My brother was never very good at standing up to my father. But my mother intervened, and, well … the engagement never happened. And my parents are in the middle of a divorce because of it.’

‘Are you serious?’ I asked, my head spinning.

‘Yeah, it was the last straw,’ I answered, resting my elbows on my thighs. ‘It’s pretty much sucked for my mother since. He’s not going easily.’