Unconditional

“Hey, why don’t you come?” Garrett suggests, brightening. “It’s just beers and a movie, but it should be fun.”

“I don’t know…” I hesitate.

Garrett must misread the reason for my reluctance, because he gives me a smile. “C’mon, Brit’s not that bad. I know she gives you a hard time, but she’s great once you get to know her.”

“No, that wasn’t—” I try to stop him, but Garrett has the idea now.

“It’s decided, you’re coming.” He talks over me. He takes my arm and steers me back out the way I came. “You need to unwind, this’ll be good for you. Who knows? You guys might even be friends.”

“Are you sure about this?” I whisper, nervous, as we head up to the front door. I spent the drive over here distracted by his presence, trying my hardest not to sneak looks at Garrett lounging in the driver’s seat. But now that we’re here, anxiety takes hold. I remember Brit’s frostiness back at the bar—hell, on every occasion we’ve ever met. “If I’m not really invited…”

“Relax,” Garrett grins. “This isn’t some big function, we’re just hanging out. The more the merrier.”

But when Brit throws the door open, she looks anything but merry.

“Garrett!” Brit cries. “And.…” Her face falls as she sees me standing here. “Oh. It’s you.”

“Wow, way to be welcoming, B.” Garrett ruffles her hair as he steps inside.

She smacks his hand away. “I’m surprised, is all. I didn’t think you would be up for roughing it out here,” she adds in my direction as I follow them in.

Garrett snorts. “Roughing it, sure, because this place is a regular campsite.”

I look around. The main ranch house is open-plan, with rustic wood panelling and industrial lights, long windows running the length of the room. “Wow, this place is amazing,” I breathe.

“Is that supposed to be funny?” Brit asks, arch.

“No,” I answer quickly, taken aback. “I wasn’t kidding, really.”

“Give it a break.” Garrett loops an arm around Brit’s neck, pulling her in a brief bear hug. “Carina was nice enough to come along, when I asked, so you’re going to play nice tonight. Deal?”

Brit gives me a murderous look from under his embrace. “Fine,” she mutters, as a familiar-looking guy comes into the room. He’s tall and blonde, wearing worn-out jeans and a denim shirt.

“Hey,” he greets us with a grin. “Good to see you, man.” He turns to me. “And you too, Carina. Brit says you just moved to town?”

“Kind of.” I return his smile. “I’m not sure what I’m doing right now.”

“Besides tearing up my apartment,” Garrett adds. “You should see what she’s doing with the place. Ripping out walls, trashing furniture…”

“Am not!” I protest.

He laughs, still teasing. “A regular wrecking crew, right here.”

“Don’t listen to him, the place was such a nightmare I’m surprised it didn’t crumble down in the middle of the night,” I inform Brit and Hunter, before turning back to him. “I’m doing you a favor, mister, so how about some thanks?” I playfully smack his arm, and Garrett catches my hand.

“Down, girl.” His eyes catch mine. Something pulses between us, hot and bright.

My heart beats faster.

“Uh, you guys want a beer?” Hunter’s voice breaks the moment. Garrett drops my hand, looking awkward.

“Sure.”

They head over to the kitchen, but Brit steps over to block my path. “I talked to Juliet today,” she says, watching me carefully through narrowed eyes. “They’re back from California.”

“How is she?” I ask, feeling a pang of envy. I didn’t know she was home—I didn’t hear anything from her during the trip. I tracked their route through the photos she posted online and all her smiling updates, but she didn’t reach out to contact me even once.

Not that she has any reason to.

I swallow, fighting back the sudden wash of guilty sadness. “What did she say?” I ask Brit, hating that I have to ask her for news about my own sister. “Did they have fun?”

“Yup.” Brit doesn’t move. “I told her about you moving here. She had no idea.”

I give a vague shrug. “I didn’t want to interrupt her trip,” I say, looking down.

“Uh huh.” Brit doesn’t sound convinced. She opens her mouth to say something else, but Garrett calls from the kitchen, interrupting.

“Quit gossiping, and come have a drink!”

Brit steps aside, her interrogation apparently over, and we go to join the guys drinking beer on the back porch, open to the warm night air. Garrett holds out a beer for me and I take it, sipping quietly as the banter and laughter flows around me. It’s easy and friendly, but inside, I’m a million miles away.

I need to see Juliet.

It eats at me, more each day. I have to make things right with her, but like everything else in my messed up life, I don’t know how to start. We have so many years of distance between us, so many ways I’ve let her down. When I think of it, the vastness of my betrayals, it seems insurmountable, like a mountain I could never in a million years hope to climb.

“You OK?” Garrett murmurs, when we head inside to start the movie. “You’ve been quiet.”