Page 126 of Infatuated as They Come
“Yeah, me too.”
“I’ll let you leave now, darling. Thank you for coming,” she said. “At least we got to spend a little time together, right?”
“Right.” Wrapping my arms around her in a hug, I squeezed her tight. “Bye, Mom. I love you.”
“I love you too.” She kissed the side of my face. “Let me know when you both get back to New York.”
It was with one more big hug that I left my house behind, the dented Christmas present in my hands. I slipped into the truck, staring right ahead of me, at the place that used to feel so warm but now just felt cold and suffocating.
“There’s a dent in the box,” was the first thing I said to Sawyer.
Sawyer let out a short, sharp breath. “Looks like there is.”
“He did it last night.”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s not.”
“It is.”
“It’s probably broken. Whatever it is, it’s ruined.”
“Maybe it’s…” Sawyer took the box from my hands, giving it the tiniest of shakes. The sound of clinking hit the air, the noise so sharp it felt like it was cutting right through me. “Never mind.”
“He broke the necklace you got me too,” I muttered, taking it out of mycoat pocket and uncurling my fingers. There it sat in the palm of my hand, my favorite ever gift, torn into pieces.
Sawyer stayed quiet for what felt like a good minute, eyes glued to my hand the whole time. Finally, he just nodded. “Yeah, it’s definitely broken, huh?”
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “About the gift and the necklace and him and everything. I’m sorry about how he treats you, I’m sorry about last night, I’m sorry he doesn’t see what I see.”
His hand brushed against mine. “Holly, it’s okay.”
“Stop saying that. It’s not okay. It’s not. I can’t even look at him right now. God, why does he have to be like this?”
“I don’t wanna be the reason you and your parents fight,” he said, eyes filled with worry. “If you want to stay, you can. I won’t stop you from staying.”
“I can’t be here right now.” I let my eyes settle back on the house. “It’s more than that fight. This is just me not being able to tolerate him anymore.”
“Well, either way… I don’t want to fuck up your relationship with him. You guys are close, Holly. I don’t want you to have what me and my dad have.”
“I need him to grow up and move on and get over not liking you. When that happens, things will change. So, it’s up to him to be the adult here and stop being the way he is.”
“I can’t tell you what to do. Just don’t want to ruin anything between you and your mom and dad. I don’t want there to be a rift ‘cause of me.”
“There’s no rift.” And then I said it, my gaze moving back to him. “There’s a rift between us, though.”
Hands scraping over his face, he nodded. “Yeah, there is. I keep fucking up.”
“I know you don’t mean to, but…”
“But I do…”
“What happened last night?”
His eyes closed. “I was really in my head yesterday.”
“Why don’t we get out of here and find some place quiet to just… talk? About everything. And last night. And… us,” I said, a knot of nerves there in my chest, because I wasn’t quite sure where our conversation would take us. “How does that sound?”
