Page 40 of In Your Wildest Dreams
“Oh my gosh. I am so sorry. I could walk, seriously.” The only mess in the entire truck is the pool of water and dirt from my shoes on the floor mat.
“Really. It’s fine.” His tone sounds completely genuine, but I am horrified.
I relax back into the seat and do my best to ignore the mess I made in his immaculate new truck as Tyler drives slowly through the snow-covered roads toward campus.
“How’s everything going?” Tyler asks. He and Everly don’t look that much alike. His hair is dark and his features are sharper, but they’ve both been so nice to me.
“Good. Your sister and Grace have been so welcoming, and the house is beautiful. I can hardly believe how well things worked out if I’m honest.”
He lifts his gaze from the road long enough to glance at me and nod. “Everly is really happy it worked out too. She doesn’t let that many people into her inner circle, but she speaks highly of you.”
“We have that in common,” I tell him, then add, “I really like her too.”
* * *
The snow doesn’t let up all day. My afternoon classes are cancelled and instead of trudging home for lunch, I grab a salad and find a table in the student center to study while I eat.
I pull out my laptop and glance around. I’m not the only one who decided to hunker down on campus. There’s something serene about sitting inside and watching the snow fall with the buzz of happy conversation and laughter all around.
Groups of friends and couples make up the majority of the tables. Not for the first time since my breakup with Gabe, I wonder how my life would be different if I’d never met him. Would I be here with my friends instead of sitting alone?
I don’t even remember the last time I talked to any of the girls I used to hang out with. When I started seeing Gabe, I stopped going out with them. It wasn’t intentional at first. I was excited about my new relationship and caught up in the excitement of it. Going to parties and bars didn’t have the same appeal.
I guess we weren’t as close as I thought because it didn’t take much time for us to drift apart. By the time I realized what a mess my relationship was, I didn’t feel like we were close enough that I could confide in them. And now? Well, I feel like a different person and not one that they’d understand.
My phone vibrates on the table in front of me, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Speak of the devil,” I mutter quietly as Gabe’s name stares back at me from the screen. Why the hell is he calling me? I’m not curious enough to answer. I send him to voicemail and focus back on my homework.
I’m fully engrossed in biopsychosocial dynamics when I feel his presence. I glance up as Gabe slides into the seat across from me. My pulse speeds up and my stomach clenches.
“What are you doing here?”
Relaxed and cool, Gabe drops one hand on the table. He’s wearing a long dress coat over his suit. His hair is wet from the snow and his cheeks are ruddy. “You’re still sharing your location with me.”
A shot of panic races through me. Since we broke up, he’s known how to find me at any moment. I swallow around the lump forming in my throat.
As if reading my thoughts, he says, “What? It’s not a big deal. I tried to call, but clearly you’re ignoring me.” Anger flashes in his eyes but disappears quickly. “Anyway, I stopped by because I have news and I knew you’d want to hear it.”
He’s wrong. So wrong. I don’t want to hear anything he has to say. “We broke up, Gabe. Go tell someone else. I’m studying.”
“Don’t be like that. I got a new job. It’s big. Really big.”
“I don’t care.” I close my laptop and shove my stuff into my backpack quickly. If he’s not going to leave, I am.
“God, you can really be a bitch sometimes, Bridget. Things are happening for me and I want you by my side.”
“Not happening.”
“Are you really going to throw away the time we spent together over some stupid arguments? We had a good thing.”
I wonder if he really believes the words he says. Does he really think that he wants to be with me? You don’t treat someone like he treated me if you truly care about them. “You and I have a very different accounting of our relationship. It’s not happening. Not now, not ever again.”
“You don’t mean that. You want to make me out as some kind of monster, but you know that’s not me. We were great together. I messed up, but it doesn’t change how I feel about you.”
I stand, uneasy on my feet, and glance at the exit. I need to get away from him. I can’t believe he’s had access to my location all this time. “I mean it, Gabe. Don’t contact me again.”
“Are you fucking someone else? Is that what this is about?” He gets to his feet quickly and walks with me toward the exit. It amazes me how fast he can go from sweet and apologetic to bitter and angry.
