Page 50 of When You're Home
“We’re not doing what, exactly?” he snarled.
“We’re not doinganyof this. We’re not going to be together the way you said you wanted, Everhett. I’m not willing to be a laughingstock so you can save face. How dare you even ask me to do that? We’re. Not. Doing. This.”
“You don’t mean that,” Rhett challenged her, his eyes seething and despondent.
“Yeah, I really do.” She shrugged indifferently. She didn’t, of course, but she had learned a few things herself while playing pretend over the last three years. She stared at him, unblinking, until a single tear slipped out. She silently cursed her body’s betrayal. She doubted the tear would have even formed if they weren’t standing in a giant forty-degree cooler.
“Don’t cry, beautiful,” Rhett begged as he wrapped his arms around her. “Please, Tori, don’t cry. It’s okay. We’ll get through this. I’m going to fix this,” he insisted.
She let him pull her into a hug, but she shook her head when he tried to lift her chin and kiss her.
“It’s too late,” she whispered. It was all too much. Too complicated. Too embarrassing. Too contrived. Too dramatic. “Please just leave and get her out of here. Don’t try to come back to pick me up tonight. I’ll get a ride home with Jake or one of the other servers.”
She pulled out of Rhett’s arms then, scrubbing away any stray tears that threatened to spill over and straightening her apron. She didn’t look back as she walked out of the walk-in cooler, but he didn’t try to come after her, either.
Chapter 29
Tori
“Tori?”herdad’svoicestartledherawake.
“What? What is it? I’m up, what’s wrong?” She sat up in her bed faster than intended. She instinctively clicked on the lamp on her bedside table, then immediately regretted it. A sharp pain surged behind her temple on the side of her head, reminding her of the two beers she drank as soon as she got home from work before she gave up on the day and put herself to bed.
“Fun weekend?” Her dad chuckled. He was standing in the doorway of her bedroom, wearing an oversized flannel jacket. Now that she was awake, she could hear Penny barking downstairs.
“Something like that,” she replied vaguely, still not fully awake.
“Well, you seem to have some gentlemen callers in the backyard, and Penny’s going crazy. I’m surprised she didn’t wake you up.”
She blinked a few times, trying to make sense of what her dad had just said.
“Tell him to go away, please,” she whispered. She hoped her dad would be willing to do her dirty work for her without asking too many questions.
“Uh, it’s not Rhett. It appears to be an intoxicated Jake and another kid I don’t recognize. I don’t think they’re gonna leave until someone goes out there. Want me to tell them to shove off?”
Tori pulled her comforter up to her shoulders as she considered her options. Why the hell was Jake in her backyard? She reached for her phone to check her messages, then remembered she had turned it off as soon as she got home. She held the power button down and waited for the screen to illuminate. Things clicked into place as she let out a huge yawn.
10:20 p.m. Everyone was at Rhett’s house, and the party was probably just getting started.
“No, it’s okay, Dad. I’ll go out and talk to them. Rhett’s having a party tonight, and I thought I could just stay in and get a good night’s sleep. Guess I was wrong…”
“Is everything okay, sweetheart?” He ran a socked foot back and forth across the hallway carpet, staring at it intently instead of looking at her when he spoke. “I’m surprised you’re home if Rhett’s having people over…” he trailed off, trying to guide the conversation without overstepping.
“I’m fine, Dad. I’m just tired. I spent all weekend with Rhett, remember? I just didn’t feel like partying tonight.”
“Understandable.” He nodded, dropping the conversation as quickly as it had started. “I’m going to bed soon, so just take your keys if you end up going over there for the night.”
“Thanks, Daddy,” Tori whispered as he turned and left her room.
“TORI!! TORI THOMPSON!”
“VICTORIA!!!”
She could hear them before she even opened the door off the back of the kitchen. No wonder Penny was going crazy—they were obnoxiously loud. Tori stepped into the backyard, trying to avoid the muddier spots of the lawn. She moved slower than intended. She was still feeling the beer she had drank earlier that night.
“Dude, we did it. Look! There she is! We freakin’ manifested her into reality!”
Oh boy. If Jake was already talking about manifesting things, he was a special level of wasted. And possibly high. She took a few more steps toward them, squinting to see who was standing next to Jake.
