Page 37 of Best Friends for Never

“No. Our business is doing just fine. In fact, after the theater reno, we’re thinking of updating the high school. Axel and I makegreatpartners.”

“I need a drink,” Noel announces suddenly, shoving from his chair and stomping toward the house.

I watch him leave, his gait quick, like he’s on a mission to escape as fast as possible.

My mother clucks her tongue once he’s tucked safely inside the house.

I turn to her, brow raised. “Yes, Mother?”

“You’re being mean.”

“Am not.”

“Are, too, and you know it. Teasing him with Axel’s name like that. You know they have history.”

“Ihave history with Axel, too, you know.”

“Yes, but you’ve also had ten years of getting over it and discovering that he’s matured and turned into a fine young man. Noel hasn’t. It’s still fresh for him.”

I slink down in my chair. I hated being reprimanded as a kid, but somehow, it feels so much worse when you’re pushing thirty. “Yeah, well, whose fault is that?”

“Parker . . . ,” my mother says sternly.

I sigh. “I’m being petty.”

“You are. And while you have a right to be upset about him not returning, you can’t be upset about him leaving. You supported him then. You can’t take it back just because he decided to stay gone.”

“Like Frank decided to stay gone, right?”

She cuts me a sharp look. “Noel isnotyour father, Parker Bernice Pruitt. You know it as well as I do. Don’t put what that man did onto him. That’s not fair.”

I swallow because I know she’s right about that too.

It’s not fair. My dad leaving and Noel leaving are two different things. But somehow ... somehow, they feel an awful lot like the same.

My dad left suddenly in the middle of the night, leaving nothing but a note and a number to reach him. We never called it, and he never called us.

Noel’s departure wasn’t so sudden. He’d been talking about going for a long time. I guess somewhere along the way, I’d developed this thing in my head where I told myself he was just dreaming and that he’d never actually leave.

Then our senior year ended, and he told me with finality that he was moving away. I told him to go. Why wouldn’t I? He was my best friend. Yes, it was going to suck for him to leave, but I wanted him to be happy. I wanted him to find that thing he always seemed to be missing.

The nights I’ve lain awake wondering if my father found what he was looking for rival the nights I’ve spent wondering if Noel found what he’d been after.

While I’ll never have that opportunity with my father, I do have the chance with Noel. Maybe I should seize it.

“So tell me more about this raffle,” Noel calls from the porch as the screen door closes behind him.

“Just give him a chance,” my mother whispers. “Who knows? Maybe he’s changed, just like Axel did.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

Or maybe it doesn’t matter. We both know he’s not sticking around. He’s leaving after the ceremony, gone out of my life again so he can live his, I can live mine, and things can go back to how they were.

I thought it was what I wanted, so why does it scare me so much?

Chapter Seven

Noel

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