Page 91 of When Stars Collide
“Why? What’s been going on?”
Elle glanced over at me. “You really have no idea?”
“I’ve kind of been out of his life, remember?”
“That would be a large part of it.”
Peter’s eyes met mine when my gaze happened to wander back to his pew. At first, he only stared at me in disbelief, which morphed in slow motion into a slight, tight-lipped smile.
“He’s been taking classes again at the local community college,” Elle whispered. “His schedule is crazy. I don’t think he’s getting much sleep.”
“He’s back in school? That’s great. What made him decide to finally do that?”
“To better himself, I guess. He told Luke he’s tired of being a loser.”
“What? Peter isn’t anywhere close to being a loser.”
“People have a tendency to not see themselves the way others do.”
*****
“Mena!” Jackson spotted me in the parking lot and ran over to where I stood next to my rental car.
“Hey, little man,” I greeted him, crouching down to give him a hug. “How’s school … and other kid things?”
“Okay.” He shrugged. “I haven’t seen you in a long time. Where have you been?”
“I live in New York, and …” I thought about what to say to him to explain my absence, since clearly Peter hadn’t. Was he even old enough to understand what a breakup was? Even if he was, telling him was Peter’s responsibility, not mine. “I’ve just been super busy doing top secret book work.”
“That sounds boring.”
“Sounds like something your father would say.”
“Oh no, what did he say?”Peter appeared from out of nowhere behind Jackson.
I stood up from my crouching position. After Peter and I broke up, I wouldn’t have guessed we would ever be standing in front of each other having a conversation again. As familiar as it was, it also felt like we were meeting each other for the first time.
“He’s just telling me how boring my job is,” I answered him, clearing my throat.
“Yeah, that checks out as being something my son would say,” he acknowledged.
“See,” I tousled Jackson’s hair, “like father, like son.”
He giggled. “Are you leaving again?”
I nodded. “I was only in town for a little bit this time to attend your grandpa’s funeral and to discuss Elle’s book edits with her.”
“Aunt Elle wrote a book?”
“No, she wrote a masterpiece, and I drew some pretty cool pictures for it.”
“Okay, your job doesn’t sound so boring now.”
“Jackson,” Amanda called from across the parking lot, waving for her son to come to her.
Jackson turned to make his way to his mother, but every so often, he would turn to look back at me, clearly wanting to say something. Finally, when he was roughly twenty feet away, he turned back around to ask me the question that obviously had been eating away at him. “Will we see you again soon?”
I didn’t know how to answer him. While a part of me wanted to say “Of course, buddy,” another part of me knew our run-ins would grow scarcer as the months ticked away.After the wedding, the odds of me ever spending any time with Jackson again were slim to none. Nonetheless, I produced a sugar-coated response that should appease him for now. “Of course, you’ll see me again soon. I’m Aunt Elle’s maid of honor in her wedding. The wedding where you’re the ring bearer, remember?”
