Page 103 of The Breakaway

He returned to the bed and sat next to me. When he saw my face, he smirked. “It’s not jewelry.”

I pursed my lips.Had it been that obvious that I didn’t like the bracelet?Rob handed me the box. I drew a breath, then opened the lid.

Chapter

Thirty-Three

I staredat the object nestled in the box, the shape unmistakable. A violin mute. I traced the delicate carvings with my fingers, and my mind skipped a beat.

It was just like Lily's and a large upgrade from my cheap one. I stared at Rob, my brain scrambling to make sense of it. How had he found something like this?

I turned it over, admiring the craftsmanship. "How—?” I couldn’t finish the sentence. Rob had asked me about my mute in the concert hall. It felt like an eon ago.

He shrugged, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. "I have my sources."

"Your sources?" I raised an eyebrow. "You expect me to believe you just stumbled upon a hand-carved violin mute that looks exactly like my friend's?"

Rob leaned back, crossing his arms. "Maybe I have a secret talent for woodworking."

I narrowed my eyes. "Rob."

He sighed. "Fine." He ran a hand through his hair. "I may have done some digging."

"Dug up a woodworker who whittles these things out of their basement?"

"Not exactly."

I folded my arms. "Spit it out, Thompson."

Rob took a breath. "I found your friend. After the concert."

I blinked. "What?"

"I waited. Talked to her and asked where she'd gotten the mute that you were obsessed with."

“Obsessed?” A grin spread across my face.

The corner of Rob’s mouth lifted. “Turns out her dad makes them. So I commissioned one."

My heart swelled. I looked down at the mute, turning it over in my hands. Delicate flowers trailed the side, vines winding through the prongs. "Rob, this is . . . how much did it cost?" My eyes started to sting.

Rob shifted on his feet. “It was nothing.”

It wasn’t nothing. I thought back to the gifts Logan had given me. A bracelet. A box. Also made of wood.

The gift in front of me couldn’t have been more different. It wasn’t the gifts themselves that were the problem, it was what they represented. Logan’s were both beautiful, but they weren’tforme. They were for him. To look good. Like a check mark on his list of how to be a proper boyfriend.

But this gift from Rob? He’d been paying attention. He’d remembered something I’d mentioned in passing. Then he’d gone out of his way to find Lily and figure out where she got hers so he could use his hard-earned money to buy one for me.

I looked up at Rob, tears filling my eyes. “I got you something, too.” His mouth quirked, and I groaned. “Don’t get excited. It’s so dumb.”

Rob laughed. “How could it be dumb?”

I placed the mute back in its box and closed the lid, then flopped back on Rob’s bed. “It’s so dumb. And then you go and give me something like this?—”

Rob grabbed my hands and pulled me up to stand in front of him. “I can’t believe you got me something.”

“It’s a toilet bowl cleaner,” I blurted. “With Chrétien’s face on it.”

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