Page 58 of Dear Adam
He opens his mouth, then closes it with a shake of his head. In a fit of rage, desperate to get him out of my home and my sight, I say the opposite of everything I’ve been thinking all summer. “Stay in California for all I care.”
With a curt nod, he turns and leaves, Hank moping behind him.
“Aly, are you sure you’re okay?” Emma asks, standing an arm’s length away, like she’s not sure if she fully trusts me at this moment. In her defense, I’m not sureIfully trust myself.
“Never better,” I murmur through gritted teeth. “Are your safety glasses on?” I watch out of the corner of my eye as her hands fly to her face to check.
“Yes, but are you sure this is the best idea? I don’t know if it’s…safe.” She backs up a few more steps from me and the hammer casually strung across my shoulder like I was born for this. Ifeelborn for this. Something is getting destroyed today.
“It’s gotta go, Em,” I say. “Today.”
“You don’t want to wait for, you know, a professional?”
“I’m going to pretend I’m not insulted by your lack of faith in me. I watched a YouTube video earlier, so I’m basically a professional. Do you want to go first?” I ask, offering the hammer. She shakes her head vehemently.
“Can you just tell me what happened? We can talk through this instead of you potentially destroying your home. There are better ways to go about this.” Her face softens and for a second, I consider it. Then the image of Adam’s phone in Levi’s pants pockets makes me mad all over again.
I take a swing to one of the support beams on my old back porch, thethunkof contact satisfying. Already, I feel better. I swing again, grinning as the wood splits. “Sure. We can talk about it while I destroy what’s left of this porch.”
Emma yields another step, one eye squinted, the other on the wood that splinters further with each strike of my hammer.
“I swear you told me Levi leaves today. Why aren’t you at the airport with him?”
I move to the other end of the porch and take aim at those beams, too. “Leviisgoing back to California today and hopefullynevercoming back.”Whack.“Ever.”Whack.“Ever. Ever. Ever.”Whack. Whack. Whack.
“Why?” Emma asks tentatively.
“He’s a liar.”Whack.“A two faced, lying, jerk.”Whack. Whack. Whack.
“Aly!” she screeches, pulling the hammer from my grip before I can swing again. Gently, she settles my hands on my shoulders and spins me to face her. Then she sits on a worn porch step and pats the spot next to her. “Tell me what happened.”
My chin wobbles uncontrollably, and I blink furiously to keep from crying.
“You know how I’ve been texting Adam to give him little updates so he doesn’t feel like he’s missed out on a bunch when he wakes?” She nods. “I honestly didn’t know where his phone was. I assumed either Mom or Dad had it, or the nurses had it ready to give back when he woke up. But actually, Levi had it.”
“Why is that a bad thing?” Emma asks, searching my face.
“He’s been secretly reading all the text messages I’ve sent to Adam.” I cover my face with my hands and let out a muffled, albeit satisfying, scream.
“Did you say anything you regret?” Emma asks.
“No, I meant everything I said, but that’s not the point. The point is, he was never supposed to read them. They were supposed to be private between me and my brother. He had every opportunity to tell me he had Adam’s phone, and he never did. Don’t you think that’s kind of scummy?”
“It is,” Emma agrees. “But I don’t think he tried to deliberately hurt you either, Aly. There has to be a good reason why he kept it, don’t you think?”
“Who’s side are you on?” I ask, glaring at her while searching for the hammer she took from me.
“Yours, obviously. I’ll always be on your side. But I’m just saying, I think if you talked to him, saw his side of things, it might make you feel better.”
“What will make me feel better is ripping down this eyesore and setting it on fire.”
Emma sighs, and reluctantly hands me the hammer. Then, she takes off around the house toward the shed.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for another hammer, I guess,” she says, throwing her hands up in submission.
I knew we were best friends for a reason.
