After We Fell (96 page)

“Are you going to the wedding?” she asks.

“No, I just wanted to look better than I'm feeling,” I reply. “Are you going to the wedding?”

“Yeah, I am.” She sighs. “I don't know what I'll do afterward, but I don't want to confuse Smith. He's a smart kid, and I don't want to alert him to anything that's going on.” Her eyes focus on the little scientist and his train.

“Besides, Sasha's skanky ass is here with Max, and I'll be damned if I give her something to gossip about.”

“Sasha came here with Max? What about Denise and Lillian?” Max's treachery knows no bounds.

“Exactly what I said! She has no shame, coming all the way to England to attend a wedding with a married man. I should beat the hell out of her to get some of this anger out.” Kimberly is so tense you can practically see it emanating from her. I can't imagine the pain she must be feeling right now, and I admire the way she's holding herself together.

“Are you . . . I don't want to pry, but—”

“Tessa, all I do is pry. You're allowed to, too,” she says with a warm smile.

“Are you going to stay with him? If you don't want to talk about it, we don't have to.”

“I do want to talk about it. I have to talk about it, because if I don't, then I'm afraid I won't be able to stay as angry as I am.” She grits her teeth. “I don't know if I'll stay with him. I love him, Tessa.” She looks at Smith again. “And I love that little boy, even if he only talks to me once a week.” She laughs weakly. “I wish I could say that I'm surprised by this, but honestly, I'm not.”

“Why aren't you?” I ask without thinking.

“They have history, a long, deep history that I'm just not sure
if I can compete with.” Hurt fills her voice, and I blink back my tears.

“History?”

“Yes. I'm going to tell you something Christian told me not to tell you until he can tell Hardin, but I think you should know . . .”

G
abriel's is a pretentious bar set in the middle of the wealthiest section in Hampstead. Of course he'd choose this place to meet me. I park my rental car in the lot and walk toward the door. When I step inside the stuffy place, my eyes scan the room. Seated at a round table in the corner of the bar are Vance, Mike, Max, and that blonde. Why the fuck is she here? And more importantly, why is Mike sitting next to Vance as if he wasn't on the verge of fucking his fiancée less than twelve hours ago?

Everyone in the place is wearing a damn tie, except me. I hope I trailed dirt in behind me. A hostess tries to speak to me as I pass her, but I brush her off.

“Hardin, nice to see you.” Max stands first and puts his hand out to shake. I ignore him.

“You wanted to talk—let's talk,” I snap at Vance when I reach the table. He brings his glass, filled to the brim with liquor, to his mouth and gulps it down before standing.

Mike's eyes stay focused on the table and it takes all of my strength not to tell him how fucking stupid he is. He's always been a quiet man, the dependable neighbor that my mum would always pester for milk or eggs when she ran out.

“How's your trip going so far?” Sabrina's voice rings out.
I look at her, dumbfounded that she would even speak to me right now.

“Where's your wife?” I glare at Max. Next to him, the blonde's smile drops from her overly made-up face and she starts swirling her empty martini glass in small circles.

“Hardin . . .” Vance says, daring to try to shut me up.

“Fuck off,” I bark at him. He stands to his feet. “I'm sure she and her daughter miss him while he's here parading around with a skan—”

“Enough,” he says and he gently grabs me by the arm in an attempt to get me away from the table.

I jerk my arm from his grip. “Don't you fucking touch me.”

Stephanie's shrill “Hey!” cuts through my growing anger. “That's no way to treat your father, now, is it?”

How fucking stupid is she? My father is back in Washington. “What?”

Her smile grows. “You heard me. You should really treat your old man with more respect.”

“Sasha!”
Max grabs her thin arm with brutal force, nearly dragging her to her feet.

“Oops, did I say something I wasn't supposed to?” Her laugh rings through the bar. She's a fucking idiot.

Confused, I look at Mike, who has no color left in his round face. He looks like he could pass out at any moment. My mind begins to shift, and I look over at Vance, who is equally pale and nervously shifting from one foot to the other.

Why are they being so dramatic over some dumb chick's random nonsense?

“You shut up, now.” Max removes the woman from the table and practically drags her through the bar.

“She wasn't supposed to—” Vance runs his hand over his hair. “I was going to . . .” He balls his fists at his sides.

She wasn't supposed to
what
? Make some stupid comment about Vance being my father when clearly my father is . . .

I look at the panicked man in front of me, his green eyes on fire, his fingers frantically running over his hair . . .

It takes me a moment to realize that my hands are doing the exact same thing.

I can't believe I'm writing acknowledgments for the third book already! Time has literally flown, wings and all, away from me, and I'm so grateful for this crazy ride. I have so many people in my life worth thanking, and I'm going to try and fit as many as I can here.

First, my readers and loyal Afternators. You guys never fail to amaze me with your support and love. You show up in numbers to every event I have, you tweet me about your day, you care about mine, and you are always my cyber-sidekicks everywhere I go. I feel as if we have this bond beyond the typical reader/writer relationship where we are more than that, more than friends, even. We are family, and I could never thank you enough for being there for me and for each other. We have one more book to go in this series, and I hope you feel the sense of pride and ownership as you always have. I love you all so freaking much, and you mean the world to me.

Adam Wilson, my superhero of an editor at Gallery. We have gotten through so much work together, and we've been a steam train at getting these books done at a super speed, with you making it “easy” for me. You teach me to be a better writer through your comments and jokes, and you get my sense of humor. I was afraid at first to have a “big, bad editor,” but you've been everything I could have hoped for! Thank you!

Ashleigh Gardner, you have become a very close friend to me. I've said this before, but honestly, you're the type of woman I look up to. You're strong and fierce, but so sweet and silly at the same time. You always have excellent book recommendations, and you take me to strange food places and don't make me feel stupid for needing a fork to eat ceviche or when I don't understand something
(un-food-related, too—haha). I really just admire you a lot, and I'm so happy for your new marriage, and I want to thank you for everything.

Candice Faktor, since we met, we had so much in common to the point where it was creepy. I knew instantly that you and Amy were my type of people, and I was so relieved when you turned out to be awesome. I love the way you speak about everything so passionately—we are alike in that way as well. You are always so genuine and so organic, and I'm just thankful to be working with you and consider you a friend.

Nazia Khan, thank you for helping me learn to speak in public and make it through an interview without becoming a total disaster. You always make things fun, and you only get a little mad at me when I give people my email address without telling you first (haha). You're a good friend to me now, too, and we are getting ready to go to AMA's (in actual life, not when you're reading this), and I'm so, so happy you are the one to come with me! Thanks for everything!

Caitlin, Zoe, Nick, Danielle, Kevin (both of you), Tarun, Rich, everyone at Wattpad—you guys are beyond a doubt the best team imaginable. I know none of you signed on to Wattpad thinking you would have to do so much for After and for me, and I want to thank you for welcoming me into the family and helping me with everything After-related and some things not. I can't wait to see what the future brings all of us! You guys are the most creative, most daring and fun group, and I care so much for all of you. Thank you for all the laughs, Nick's picture taking, the wine drinking, the rainy but super-awesome condo crawl, and the massive amounts of food that seem to be there every time I visit.

Allen and Ivan, without Wattpad I wouldn't have found myself, so thank you for creating one of the most important things in my life. I know others share this sentiment as well.

Kristin Dwyer, thank you for making me laugh and calling
me “dude” all the time. I'm so happy to work with you and appreciate all the hours of work you put into me. I really love you and your humor, your hard work, how you make me remember that the good always overcomes the bad, and everything else you do for me!

Everyone at Gallery who has welcomed me, the inexperienced, overly fangirlish, weirdo author who mostly has no idea what she's doing but loves doing it! I appreciate all of the work you all do for this project, from the sales team to the production team. Jen Bergstrom and Louise Burke, for letting Adam sign me up. Martin Karlow, I know you've worked so hard on this, and I'm grateful for that! Steve Breslin, as Adam says, “You keep this train somewhat on track!”

Christina and Lo, you two have been great mentors and friends to me, and I love you both!

To all the Tessas and Hardins in the world who love fiercely and make mistakes along the way.

All of my friends and family who have supported me since I let the cat out of the bag that I just happened to, you know, write four books without them knowing. I love you all.

Last but not least, my Jordan. You are everything to me, and I can't thank you enough for being my rock this last year and the many before. We are so lucky to have found each other so early in life, and it's been the best adventure growing up with you. You make me laugh and make me want to murder you (not actually, because I would sort of miss you, sometimes). I love you.