End of Story(61)

“Your sister rolled off a top bunk in her sleep one time and broke her arm,” continued Deborah. “Tore really only ever had his tonsils and wisdom teeth out.”

“Show Susie the photo albums of Lars when he was little,” said Henning, placing a dish of grilled chicken and vegetables on the table.

“Do not bring out the baby photos,” said Lars, handing me a plate.

“Why not?” asked his father. “A big healthy naked baby lying on a sheepskin rug. What’s there to be ashamed of?”

Lars frowned.

“I need to see that photo and possibly take a copy.” I bit back a smile. “Please.”

“No,” said Lars. “What about you? Any childhood injuries?”

“Um, I broke my foot skateboarding when I was ten or so. Mom made Aunt Susan get rid of the board after that.”

“You could have been one of the greats.”

“I definitely could not have been one of the greats.” I laughed. “But thank you for your vote of confidence.”

Deborah suddenly stiffened, her head turned toward the neighboring property where Aaron’s mother was now tending to the plants on her back deck with much serenity and grace. I’d been willing to ignore his claim of her hating me as another attempt to get under my skin. Given Deborah had returned to giving me guarded looks, however, I guess it was true. Who knows what they’d been saying about me?

While other people’s opinion of me was none of my business, this bullshit I could do without.

“Hey,” said Lars. “Come here.”

“Yeah?”

He grabbed me by the back of my neck like a Neanderthal and kissed me. Which was kind of great. Clearly, he was on my side.

“Hannah left,” announced Deborah apropos of nothing.

Lars frowned. “What?”

“Just boarded a plane to London this morning and left. No explanation. No nothing. Put her engagement ring on the kitchen counter and walked out.” Deborah sighed. “Aaron’s taking it very hard, as you’d imagine.”

Lars said nothing.

“I thought he might have reached out to you.” She cleared her throat. “I don’t know what happened between you and him, Susie. But what I do know, Lars, is that he’s been a good friend to you for a long time. It’s a pity that you feel you have to choose between him and your new girlfriend.”

“I’ll give him a call,” said Lars.

“I’d hope so.”

Time to prove I could support Lars while still hating on his bestie. “Why don’t you drop me off at home after this and go check on him? My car is probably easier to drive in your delicate condition than your big truck.”

Lars’s smile was everything good and right in the world. “Thanks.”

The BBQ didn’t really pick up again after that. Guess meeting families just wasn’t my thing. So Lars was going to visit the Ex. It was fine. Everything was fine. And I refused to believe differently.



Fourteen


Cleo burst into my house a couple of hours later with a bottle of wine in each hand. She toed off her wet shoes and announced, “You’re not going to believe what Tore said when I told him I was coming to see you.”

“Tell me,” I said, setting out the glasses on the coffee table.

“Don’t you think we should sort out our problems without involving your best friend?” Cleo repeated in a low and cranky voice. “If he’d been open to listening to me and resolving the issue like an adult in the first place, I wouldn’t have had to come see you to cool off.”

“Did you kick him out of your condo?”

“Hell no,” she said. “I want to know exactly where he is when I’m ready to yell at him some more.”

“That makes sense.” I nodded and poured the wine. We sat on cushions on the floor with our backs against the sofa. It was our way. Something about getting down and disheveled in times of trouble worked for us.

“He cracked jokes through the whole damn show,” she said, taking a sip of white wine before wiping drops of rain off her face. “There I am, trying to enjoy myself watching something I’ve been waiting months to see, and the man would not shut up.”

“Rude.”

“What did Lars do to put that sad expression on your face?”

“We went to his parents’ house for dinner and his mom broke the news that Aaron’s fiancée dumped him and ran,” I said, grabbing my cardigan off the sofa. The temperature had cooled off care of the wet. “She also threw in a wee guilt trip for fun.”

“As you do.”

“As soon as we got home, he called the asshole and is now over there consoling him. Which is fine. I just...ugh.”

“So the new girl ran, huh?” Cleo raised a brow. “Good for her.”

I downed a mouthful. “Yeah.”

“You still have issues with Lars being friends with him?”

“I’m trying not to. It has nothing to do with me, really.”

Cleo tapped her nails against her knee. “Hmm.”

“I take it you asked Tore to stop complaining and he didn’t?”

“Twice. Just because he didn’t like the show, he didn’t have to ruin it for me.” She shook her head. “He behaved like a damn child. Then when he finally realized I was pissed at him, he got all defensive!”