Chasing His Kickass Luna Back by Jane Above Story

#Chapter 80: New Horizons
Karl

The sun is barely hovering above the horizon as I pull up in front of Abby’s apartment building on

Friday morning.

I can’t help but smile as I think about the day ahead of us. My black car idles, the hum of its engine

drowned out by the pop song playing on the radio—a song I can easily imagine Abby singing along to,

although I don’t personally care for that kind of music myself.

With a deep breath, I turn off the engine and grab the to-go cup of her favorite coffee from the cup

holder.

She opens the door almost as soon as I knock, as though she was standing there, waiting. There’s a

look in her eyes that makes it seem as though she’s still on the fence about going. But the second her

eyes meet mine, the tension in her shoulders eases. Just a bit.

“Good morning,” I greet, handing her the coffee. “Figured you could use this.”

She grins, taking a sip immediately. “You read my mind.”

There’s a slight silence for a few moments. My eyes scan the inside of her apartment, where a bag sits

on the floor behind her; it’s packed haphazardly, no doubt. She’s never been the neatest traveler.

“Oh, one more thing,” she says before I can say anything. She slips her phone out of her pocket and

begins tapping furiously on the screen while her coffee cup balances precariously in the crook of her

elbow. “I have to tell Ethan—”

“Ethan will be fine without you,” I say, sn atching both the phone and the coffee cup away. “And so will

the restaurant. Just enjoy your time off, Abby.”

She glares at me for a moment, that signature stare of hers, but finally relaxes and lets out a deep sigh.

“You’re right.”

We hit the road within a few minutes. The morning sun streams through the windows, casting her face

in a warm amber glow. I plug in my phone and shuffle through a playlist I know she’ll love.

“So, long drive ahead. Music?”

“Surprise me,” she says, her fingers nervously tapping on the coffee cup.

I hit play, and the first chords of a nostalgic song—one that played at our wedding—fill the car. She

laughs, shaking her head. “Seriously?”

“Come on, it’s a classic,” I defend, bobbing my head to the beat.

Abby’s lips twitch upwards into a smile, but it quickly fades. I watch from my peripherals as she averts

to the window, occasionally sipping out of her coffee cup. She thinks I don’t

and forth to the song, ever so slightly. And that’s

riding in comfortable silence for about half an

building off the

that place?”

direction she’s pointing, spotting the outline of an

Inn,” I say, a smile forming

than once.”

a more nostalgic tone. “You proposed

head. “Your memory is betraying you. I

was it called—La Bella

you’ve got it all

near the fireplace where we

trails off momentarily, leaving space where

it, because if I do, I’ll get

car off the road.

fireplace, but no, Abby, I proposed

us out for disturbing the peace after you said

forth like this, both of us stubbornly clinging to our own versions of the story.

a reminder of simpler times. I’m about to pull out

argument when Abby’s eyes

idiots,” she

ask, genuinely

she says, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. “It

“The lighthouse?”

glance. “The one near your pack’s territory.

restaurant attached?”

hits me like a bolt of lightning, and

could

at the restaurant there, and you proposed at the top,” she says, her voice taking

melancholic tone. “And then we went to the Woodpecker

softness in her voice, a glimmer of something that I’ve

and it’s as if the

The regret hits me like a ton of bricks,

there for too long,

to acknowledge it.

driving, the towering trees give way to the

estate. I haven’t been here in a few months now, but it feels just as

Abby beside me.

glance, hoping that I don’t see any

says, though I catch a note of

the old mansion coming into view. Before I can even

open. Gerald, our family butler for as long as I can remember, steps onto

he sees me. “Mr. Karl!” he exclaims, shuffling

his gaze lands on

What are you doing here?” he asks, a thinly veiled

words.

Gerald,” Abby replies, her tone

nothing more, his eyes say it all. Maybe

beforehand. But hell, if he has a problem with Abby being here, that’s his issue

with, not ours.

already grabbed it. “I got it,” she says,

shoots up my arm, and I have to resist