Page 145 of When Fate Breaks
Mom puts her elbows on the table, raising her laced together fingers to rest her chin on them. She looks at me thoughtfully, slowly shaking her head.
“What?” I ask her.
“That girl loves you, Blake.”
I bark out a humorless laugh, looking down at my plate and pushing my Caesar salad around aimlessly with my fork. “No, she doesn’t.”
“She does.”
The few tables of people sitting around us are all having very loud conversations. I try to focus on any of them, desperate for a distraction.
“Well, obviously not enough,” I finally reply, knowing she’s waiting for it. I hear plates clinking in the kitchen behind us and faintly register the ringing of a bell ahead of us. I continue to pick at my salad, trying to zone out to other noises.
Mom shifts in her seat next to me. “I think you’re wrong.”
The odd tone of her voice makes me look up at her, my brows pulled together. “Why?”
But she’s not looking at me. She doesn’t respond, just raising her finger to point forwards. I slowly turn my head, following her direction.
My fork drops onto my plate. Fire burns in my throat. Heat rushes to my neck. My stomach twists in knots. I grind my teeth together, blinking hard as I try to convince myself that the scene in front of me is real.
Just a few feet in front of us, standing in the doorway of the restaurant, is Evangeline, face pink, hair tangled, and panting.
30
PRESENT DAY
Annie
Blake’s eyes land on me, and his fork instantly falls to his plate with a loud clatter, the look on his face penetrating and the sudden stiffness of his posture intimidating. My heart feels like it’s about to burst out of my chest, but I walk forward anyways.
I stop about ten feet in front of their table, steeling my spine and pushing my hair from my face. I tear my eyes from Blake for the first time to turn towards Emily, her blue eyes wide.
“Hi, Emily,” I say, my voice breathy. “It’s great to see you.”
“Hi, hon,” she replies quietly, her mouth curling up at one side.
I give her a tight smile before turning back to Blake again. His lips keep parting and then pressing firmly back together again. He looks like he has a million thoughts and questions swirling in his eyes, but, if so, he doesn’t voice any of them. He just stares at me, knuckles white and emotions unreadable.
“Hi, Blake.”
Silence.
“You’re probably wondering how I’m here.”
His throat bobbing once is Blake’s only response.
My teeth go into my bottom lip. He’s clearly not going to make this easy on me. And I know I have no right for him to. I’m honestly halfway surprised his soda and salad haven’t already been dumped over my head. I take a deep breath, flexing my fingers at my side. He may not be speaking, but he’s listening. There’s also half a restaurant’s worth of people turned our way and listening, but it doesn’t matter. Now’s my chance. The last one I’m sure I’ll ever have. Time to use it before I lose it.
“I took a plane,” I blurt. “Well,obviouslyI took a plane. But I guess more importantly thanhowI’m here iswhyI’m here. I promise I’ll get that, just…please, bear with me.” I pause, giving him a chance to respond.
He doesn’t.
“That was both the longest and the shortest plane ride of my life,” I continue. “I felt like I was in a time warp. The first hour seemed like an entire day and the last three hours felt like thirty seconds. I had no concept of what was happening because, in all honesty, I sat down in my seat and looked out the window the entire time. All four hours. I sat and I stared and I thought. Yet still, when we landed, I didn’t know what I was about to do–Actually, that’s not true. I knewexactlywhat I was about to do. I just didn’t have the faintest idea ofhowI was going to do it. How Icoulddo it.”
Blake's expression remains exactly the same while Emily’s eyes just continue to grow wider. So many words dance around my brain. I don’t know how to pick which of the words to say next, so I just say them all.
“I got a rental car. The first one I could find. It’s a purple PT Cruiser. I didn’t even know they made those anymore. I’m pretty sure they don’t, actually, but anyways,” I babble, shaking my head. “The second they handed me the keys, I just started driving. Without even thinking about where I was going or what I was doing, I found myself pulling into the driveway of your family’s house. I guess it was just muscle memory. Or something more than that. I don’t know. It didn’t even register until I was walking up your driveway, and nearly at your front door, that you don’t live there anymore. Because we’re adults. And you have your own house. But I wouldn’t know that.”
