Summer Blue

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Present day

Blue

I couldn't even blink as I drank in the fault that Sage had in the calm composure that she had held on to all night. It was a little sadistic of me but one thing that I'd like to think I'm good at was being an expert on Sage. The word baby was the nail that cracked that facade she had been trying to put on, I bothered her and I fucking loved that I still had a foot in that fucking door, even if it was just a slither, just a crack big enough to slip through I would take it, shit I am going to take it.

'Drinks, refill anyone?' Violet let out as she stood from her chair, reaching for the bottle of wine on the table. Sage cleared her throat before forcing her eyes away from mine.

'Me, please.' She raised her glass to Violet who proceeded to fill the glass to the brim before filling her own as Sage looked everywhere but at me. Shit, I hated that; damn did I hate her hiding from me.

'I take it since you're drinking wine that means the news that you have isn't that your pregnant?' Sage asked, and I tilted my head hoping to read the expression on her face that came with her words, the need to read what she was feeling. It was kind of ironic really considering that the last time I tried to read her that too had to do with pregnancy only it was her pregnancy in question at the time, and our loss that was undoubtedly the reason she ran from me.

'No, I am not pregnant.' Violet denied the insinuation with a straight face before her grin grew.

'Not from a lack of trying.' Mickey piped up.

'Then what is it?' Sage asked, turning to give her attention to Mickey as if she was now reading him like I was trying to read her.

'You want to tell them Doll, or should I?' Mickey sent a knowing smirk towards Violet whose smile only grew wider if possible.

'We are getting married.' Violet squealed her excitement and happiness out across the table. Wait what? I turned to face Mickey in my gobsmacked state.

'You're getting married, and you didn't fucking tell me?' I fired his way, rising from my seat and pulling him from his as I pulled him into a congratulatory embrace. This was good, I was happy for him, and I truly was, shit he had been love-struck with Violet since he was assigned the seat behind hers in math class senior year. 'Congrats cousin.' I patted his shoulder before pulling from our embrace to face our girls, shit his girl and my ex-girl. Fuck!

'Mickey Mercer.' Sage fired across the table, and I swear Mickey tensed as if he was about to get a scolding. 'We talk on the phone how many times a week? And you didn't tell me that you were going to propose to her?' She grinned over at him, and I turned my eyes back on my fucking cousin. The look he gave me was one of a silent plea that he could explain but he would explain later. He had been talking with Sage this entire time? How? She had changed her damn number specifically to keep us from calling, when the shit did they start calling each other on a regular basis? Last week or three fucking years ago? Fuck did that hurt worse than a dagger to my chest because that only meant one thing, she didn't run from him, she ran from me and solely me. Did I really fuck up that bad? Fuck she must hate me, and it was agonizing to not know exactly why.

Present day

Sage

I wiped my hands on the dish towel, feeling the warmth of the water lingering on my skin. The clink of plates being stacked echoed in the kitchen as Violet and Mickey both finished up the dinner mess we had made. A satisfying exhaustion settled over me, they looked so happy, neither of their smiles wavered from one another and I was so over the moon for the both of them at hearing that they were going to get married, they deserved that because Mickey was my best friend and so was Violet. I took this moment to leave them in their little bubble of love and give them some privacy as I slipped out back for a cigarette. The second I pushed the back door open; a cool breeze greeted me as I stepped out onto the patio. The night air was crisp, carrying the scent of damp air from earlier rain and of course distant bonfires, this town loved a bloody bonfire. I reached into my pocket, fingers fumbling for the pack of cigarettes that had become my lifeline for the past few months. With a lighter in hand, I took a deep inhale, letting the smoke swirl around me and momentarily distract me from the whirl of emotions I had been bombarded with for the past few hours. The entire night I had mindlessly kept falling into the crab trap that was Blue Mercer, it was exhausting to settle into what was a comforting normality between us before being knocked back with the realization that things were not like that for us anymore.