Page 47 of Unspoken Hearts
“I’llgetwhatIcan when I finish up today,” I say into the phone tucked between my cheek and shoulder.
Axel is just as irritated as I am about the situation of Walter refusing to repair the roof, but after a night of overthinking and barely any sleep, I’m beginning to understand Walter’s reasoning behind his decision.
His low breath steadies against the speaker as I start loading more cartons of milk into the mini fridge below the coffee machine in Golden Hour. Laynie is out the back talking with Sam, her delivery man, while I handle setting up the barista area on my own. We open in a couple of minutes, and I’m already feeling exhausted.
Waking up at five in the morning will take some time to get used to, especially since I already struggle with sleep as it is. Usually I’m up until midnight, but with everything on my mind, I was lucky to sleep a wink last night.
I was tempted to message Reid if he was awake too, but I chickened out.
Axel’s voice appears again, “Maybe you should move here andlive—”
The phone slips from between neck and shoulder, thudding to the tiled floor. With a groan, I grab it, seeing the cracks in the screen, but it’s at least still working.
“—you doing? Why was that so loud?” He’s halfway through a sentence when I hold it against my ear this time. “Macie?”
“I’m here,” I grumble. “I dropped my phone. But I can’t move away, not with Laynie being here. I’m still helping her out.”
“What if I move back, and we can find—”
“No,” I say curtly. “You’re not moving back after I paid for your first year of university.”
He’s silent for a moment. “I thought that money was my inheritance from our grandparents?”
“Some,” I answer honestly. “I put some of my own money in, too.”
Axel curses under his breath, making my head tip backwards. “I didn’t want you to help me.”
“Well, you’re not exactly swimming in cash, Axe. Neither of us are.”
He huffs but doesn’t say anything.
“Look.” I lower my tone as the door swings open, bells ringing from the ceiling. I wave to the older couple as they take their seats at a table, too busy staring at each other than anything else.
I often wonder what it would be like to be so in love with someone even after years of being together. Is it just as powerful as when you first meet? Does it get stronger or slowly dwindle the longer that flame burns? Watching other couples in the street or at the pub, seeing how they show affection and joke with one another like they have their own secret languages… I can’t lie and say I’m not jealous, because I am.
I have never had a boyfriend, since I’ve been so preoccupied with my brother, and I always thought somehow Reid and I would end up together.
“Yeah?” Axel hums through the phone, pulling back my thoughts to the matter at hand. “Hurry up, I have to get to class, and I don’t want to be late.”
“Wow, so you are a good student.” Relief rushes over me.
He huffs a laugh. “I guess I have you to thank for that. Always pushing me and getting me to school on time.”
A smile gleans my chaffed lips. “I just knew the world would need you as an engineer, Axe.”
“Right you are, but if I fail physics, then the world might crash and burn, so hurry up, would you.”
Laughing, I tell him not to worry about coming home. That I can handle this on my own—like almost everything else—and that he should focus on his studies.
“I know, I know. Hey, and when I finish and have a proper job, then you can come live with me in the city.”
My eyebrows pull together. Laynie appears around the corner, glaring down at me as I remain still with my phone in hand.
I feel her eyes telling me, ‘I’m paying you right now and you’re on the phone?’
I mouth to her my brother’s name, and her body loosens a little. Nodding, she goes over to the table with the older couple as I crouch below the bench, out of sight.
“Axe, we’ll need to discuss this some other time. I have to get to work now or Laynie might fire me, and then probably end our friendship,” I murmur into the speaker.
