Page 103 of Late Bloomer
My head spins, the words she’s saying all jumbled up and clanging around up there. “I don’t need you to give it to me,” I say, lips twisting. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I found the will.”
“You… you what?”
“Found the will.” I wave the document clutched in my hand. “Loudidleave it to me. Left it all to me. Didn’t do me a ton of favors in finding the damn thing but… yeah.”
Opal stares at the paper, lips parted, face pale. Eventually, she nods. “Right. That’s great. Even better.”
“Better?”
She shrugs, giving me a strained smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. “We don’t have to go through any official transfer of ownership or whatever legal nonsense. It’s yours. Always has been, always will be.”
“What’s going on?” I whisper, taking another step toward her. Again, she steps back.
It’s then that I notice two duffel bags at the foot of the stairs. I stare at them, eyebrows furrowing
“Are you… are you leaving?” I say. Panic washes throughme, gobbling up every cell as my eyes flick between the bags and Opal’s stricken face.
She opens her mouth, shuts it, biting down hard on her lip. She looks at the bags too, then at the door. Eventually, she nods and whispers, “Yeah.”
The word scrapes close to the bone, making me grit my teeth from the force of it.
“But… why?”
Opal blinks, a few tears slipping out of the corners of her eyes, and I want to go to her. I want to wipe those tears away. Kiss a smile onto her lips. But I can’t. I’m rooted to the spot, watching my world fall apart, the pieces slipping away like water through the cracks between my fingers.
“Because I’m sick of being an intruder in your life, Pepper,” she says, voice so small, I barely hear her. “I’m sick of barreling through here and screwing things up for you and making messes. So I’m removing myself from the equation.” She sets her coffee down on the table and moves toward the bags.
“You don’t screw things up.” I shout the words. A desperate reach to stop her from disappearing.
Opal lets out a humorless laugh. “Really? Because you’ve made it pretty clear that this entire summer was one giant disaster.”
My head jerks back. “I never said that.”
“You not speaking to me got the point across. You might not realize it yet, but I know deep down this is what you want.”
“You don’t get to assume my feelings for me, Opal,” I say,throwing my arms up. “They’re mine to figure out and sort through.”
“Well, what else am I supposed to do with your feelings?” she says, voice rising, color high on her cheeks. “It’s not like you share them with me. I’ve opened the vein over and over to tell you how much I like you like a fuckingfool,while you give me nothing.”
“Nothing?” I shout back. “I’ve given you nothing? I’m an absolute wreck over you.”
She opens her mouth, an obstinate twist to her lips, but the sound of a honk and slamming car doors makes us both jump. Our gazes shoot to the window, and we move in sync to see who’s here.
“Shit,” Opal says, whipping away from the pane and pressing her back to the wall.
“What?” I say, glaring at the strangers in my driveway. The guy has a scraggly, chin-strap beard that he’s scratching as he stretches, and the woman is tall and waifish, intimidating in a way that cool people who know they’re cool always are. “Do you know them?”
As I say the last part, the woman calls out,“Opalllllllllllllll.”
Opal’s white as a ghost, eyes wide and lip clamped between her teeth as she shifts from foot to foot. “That’s my, uh, friend, Laney,” she says, finally looking at me. “And my ex, Miles.”
Chapter 37OPAL
“Laney,” I say, stepping onto the porch. It’s the only word I can manage. I clear my throat. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, the prodigal son returns,” Laney says, cocking a hip and fixing me with a vicious smile as she slow-claps.
“You came to her,” Pepper says from behind me. “That makes no sense.”
