Page 28 of The Comeback Road
September
Okay, computer, it’s you and me.I cracked my knuckles and neck before diving in, only to be interrupted by the rest of the team sitting down on all sides, not realizing I was in the middle of something.
“You almost didn’t blow up today,” Luke said, and gave me a hopeful grin.
“Does almost really count when it comes to being blown up?” I shot back.
“What counts is that you’re getting better, faster. We might actually have a shot at this.” He looked around at all of us. “We have a lead on another location, but…” I saw the way his eyes flicked to me. They showed pity,concern.
“You don’t think we are ready. You don’t thinkI’mready.” He was right; I wasn’t. I couldn’t help the itchiness that settled over my skin. I felt like there was something I was missing.The program I was trying to disable, even though it held horror behind its walls, was a masterpiece. Delicately put together in moving pieces that were remarkable. One wrong move, and the entire thing collapsed. It was as if it answered only to its master, its maker, and I was neither.
“We have time,” Luke stated firmly.
“It doesn’t feel like it.” I grabbed the laptop, unwilling to sit and have that conversation anymore. The more we talked, the more time was wasted, the more days ticked by that I was no further along.
My phone pinged from the corner, and I knew without looking who it was going to be. Like a glutton for punishment, I moved to grab it.
Jace: Can you believe how fast they grow up?
I clicked on the photo attachment, and couldn’t help but smile at the picture of Sweet Potato and Pie. They were in that odd stage where they were all legs, little bodies, and floppy ears that didn’t exactly make sense. My heart clenched at the reminder of Rockland, of myalmosthome. Or my current home. I hadn’t quite figured that out yet.
Magnolia blew up my phone as well, but the more she tried, the more I felt myself retreating into the distance I had placed between us. I needed to focus on the job—that was the excuse I told myself. I didn’t need the distractions of anything or anybody else. And every time Magnolia called, she wanted to talk to me about Jace, and said it was important. But after the third time I hung up on her, she got the memo.
Now, I didn’t answer her calls at all.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Lexie
October
Magnolia:Will you be home for Thanksgiving?
Magnolia: I take that as a no.
I half threw my phone on the communal dining room table as the texts rolled in, unsure of what to say. I knew I wasn’t going home, but by answering calls—or even text messages—I’d have to explain my prolonged absence, and I just couldn’t find it in me to deal with it yet.
“Problem?” Zed asked, still typing away on his tablet.
“Nothing that concerns you.”
“Your lack of progress concerns me, and I can’t help but think it’s because you’re distracted.”
I gaped at him.Rude.“That’s rude, Zed.”
He just shrugged at me, still not lifting his attention from what he was working on. “It’s the truth.”
“Wow, don’t spare my feelings or anything.”
“The sooner we wrap this up, the sooner you can get back to whatever that is…Oh,” he said matter-of-factly, “now I see.”
“What could you possibly see, Zed? You haven’t looked at anything but that tablet in hours.” I rolled my eyes at him.
“You don’t want this to end. You’re running from something.”
I sputtered, “I—that’s—n—”
“Well, I have a life I’d like to get back to, a family. So if you could please figure your shit out, I’d be forever grateful.”
