Page 114 of Puck with Karma
“Okay, what the hell is the deal?” She sounds annoyed with me now.
I take a deep breath in, then let it out, blowing strands of hair out of the way.
“I worked for the Minnesota Cats, as an intern,” I explain. I use the past tense because I am sure that I lost that position when I told Laura I was leaving town. “I met Xander there. We…”
A smirk forms in the corner of Chloe’s lips. “You slept with him, didn’t you,” she guesses correctly.
I nod and bite my bottom lip. No point in denying it. Besides, I really need to tell my brother about it. Nothing good has come out of me keeping all this a secret. Quite the opposite.
Chloe places a gentle hand on my arm. “How long has this been going on for?”
“A couple of months,” I choke out. The more I think of it, the more my heart aches for Xander.
“Do you love him?”
My eyes instantly fill with water once again at hearing the question. “I do.”
“Does he love you back?” she asks, worry clear in her voice.
“I…” Seconds go by, and I’m not sure how to answer. I do think that Xander loves me too, but not hearing the actual words has really put the doubt in my mind.
Raised voices from the living room save me from answering. Chloe gets distracted and turns around to see what it’s all about.
“What the fuck.” Bran is now staring at his phone.
We all stare at him until Van decides to speak up. “Bad news?”
He shrugs, confusion marring his face. “I don’t even fuckin’ know. Connection was bad. I think I need to go there.”
I try to piece things together, and come to the conclusion that he just got off the phone with Mallory.
Chloe seems to be on the same page as me. “To Minnesota?”
She is about to jump up and down with excitement, but the belly is in the way. Van decides to burst all our bubbles.
“I think they’re under snow advisory. I saw something on the news last night. They were expecting to get quite a bit of it.”
“What’s quite a bit?” Bran asks, but I already have a sinking feeling in my stomach. I saw first hand how much snow they get up there.
“Like, nine feet of snow dump overnight,” Van continues, but Bran is on a mission.
“What time is the snow supposed to start?”
When there’s no response, Chloe tried to prompt Van to respond.
“Babe, when does the snow start?”
Van’s face gets animated.
“How am I supposed to know? I’m not a meteorologist! I just saw a five second thing on TV.”
I grab my cell phone to do a search on this. If I can help my brother to get to Mallory as soon as possible, I am ready to put in the work.
“I’m googling it now! Maybe pack a bag if you’re going?”
“Good idea!”
Bran rushes to the bedroom while Van and Chloe start bickering. They seem to be doing that a lot. I don’t pay attention to anything they’re saying as I look up the weather for Minnesota.
