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Bleeding Heart
A. M. HARTNETT
A division of HarperCollinsPublishers
This novel is entirely a work of fiction.
The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are
the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to
actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is
entirely coincidental.
Mischief
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London, SE1 9GF
An eBook Original 2015
1
Copyright © A. M. Hartnett 2015
A. M. Hartnett asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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EPub Edition © 2015 ISBN: 9780008148812
Version 2015-09-23
Contents
‘I really wish you weren’t alone.’
Seth Axworthy tried his best not to let his irritation show at Evie’s words. He rarely growled at his friend and soon-to-be-former neighbour as it was, and he didn’t plan to start on a day when she looked like she was going to burst into tears at any minute.
Instead, he sighed inwardly and gave her a smile. Then he said the only thing he could think of that would be convincing. ‘Alone, not lonely.’
What a piss-poor response, he realised as soon as the words were out of his mouth. It wasn’t true, not even a bit, and the feeling was made worse by knowing that she was moving away with her boyfriend.
He’d miss her. He’d even miss Ryan. But the worst of it was the idea of sitting by himself in his apartment again, tossing treats at his cat while wondering what in the hell he was going to do with himself for another night.
‘Are you going to come visit us?’ she asked after a minute, brushing an errant corkscrew of her brown hair from in front of her eye. ‘Ryan’s getting a barbecue.’
Again, he held his tongue. He hated the pity he heard under the cheerful invitation. Still, he told her what she wanted to hear. ‘You’re not even out of my face yet and you want to get back in it. Once you two are settled.’
‘God, I hate that word.’
‘Maybe so, but that’s what you’re doing. Another year, and then there’ll be a ring and maybe a –’
‘Don’t even think about saying what you’re about to say, unless you want Ryan to go totally over the top. Are you going to see us off?’
‘I don’t know if my little heart can take it.’
He wasn’t exactly kidding. Their moving was so final. Even though he would miss them, he had no desire to drive to the suburbs to see them. There was no sultry invitation in her tone to indicate that this visit would be anything like the last few times he had been their guest, and the last thing he wanted to do was sit on a lawn chair and watch them be couplish in front of him while he pretended he didn’t mind.
Still, he took her hand and walked with her to the elevator. ‘I am going to miss our teatime.’
‘You’ll have to make teatime with the new tenant.’
Jesus Christ. Here we go. Not even out of the building and she was already well on her way to becoming one of those meddling matchmakers who aren’t