“Why should he be mad? I didn’t do anything. He has no right to be mad. I should be the one mad, he’s the one that lied to me, said he was going fishing with the boys and then who do I run into at the hospital?”
Tess groaned. “Ellie, stop.”
“What?”
“Am I some kind of hostage negotiator in your relationship?”
I just blinked, trying to decipher what that exactly meant.
Tess rolled her eyes. “It was Chris’s turn to take Kerry to her treatment, but Adam offered at the last minute. I think he was planning to drop in to see you, find out why you were page three of The Weekender. He said that when you hadn’t mentioned anything on the phone about running into Rory he was pissed, but that’s it. Honestly, Ellie, I can’t see how you two are going to possibly survive long distance if you both don’t communicate with each other.”
I remained silent, the reality of Tess’s words sinking in about the complete communication breakdown between Adam and me. This was new territory; our relationship wasn’t casual friends anymore, it was so much more. One thing I knew was that we couldn’t go back, and above all I really didn’t want to.
“What am I going to do, Tess? I want it to work, more than anything.”
“Ellie, every single confusing, fearful thought you’ve had in the last week, I can pretty much guarantee Adam’s felt the same thing.”
I rolled my eyes. “He’s a boy, boys don’t think like that.”
Tess laughed. “Yeah, maybe, but don’t forget the one thing you both have in common.”
“What’s that?”
“Me.”
I breathed out a laugh.
“Ellie, the point you’re missing is that I know both of you better than anyone, and I see everything, and unfortunately hear everything that you both tend to tell me; like, seriously, you two are the biggest whingers out there.”
“Oh, geez, thanks.”
“But I’m glad, because when you ask me things like what am I going to do? I kind of think I might actually be qualified to answer.”
I shifted in my seat, giving Tess my full attention as I looked into her manic, excited eyes.
“And what’s that exactly?”
Tess grinned from ear to ear. “For one, you’re going to have to tell Adam how you really feel.”
“Oh, and how do you suggest I do that?”
“Well, let’s just say I think we’re going to need some reinforcements.”
Sean was concentrating intensely as he stalked around the pool table, chalking his pool cue.
“How long for?”
“A couple of hours, tops,” Tess said.
He bent over, lining up the white ball, running his cue back and forth, sizing it up. “On a Saturday night?”
“Yeah.” I cringed, knowing that it was by far their busiest night at the Onslow.
“Blue ball, right hand corner pocket.” Sean hit the white, smashing it into the blue and pocketing it, just the way he had described.
Sean straightened, leaning on his cue, finally giving us his full attention. “So, just to get this straight, you want me to close down the beer garden to the public on a Saturday night.”
It in no way sounded like a smart business proposition, ever since refurbishing the back beer garden had been a popular drawcard on a summer’s evening.
