For a second I just stared at him. “What are you sorry for?” I was the one that had ruined us.
“I shouldn’t have left you during the dance. This is all my fault. I’m so fucking mad at you right now. But I’m even madder at myself.” He leaned down and scooped me up into his arms. “I know you’re hurt. I’m sorry I made you run after me.”
I didn’t blame him for any of that. I was just sorry that he was quitting because of me. He needed this money for school. And despite what he said, all of this was my fault, not his. It was my fault he’d walked away from me during the dance. It was my fault he was hurting. All of this was my fault.
“Couldn’t you stay?” I asked. “And just be assigned to someone else?”
“I think I need a fresh start, kid,” he said.
Okay. I rested my head against his chest and breathed in his familiar scent. I knew I’d needed to end things between us. I just didn’t know it would make me feel like I was sinking all over again.
Miller carried me all the way back to Matt’s. He carried me through the house, up the stairs, and to what I assumed was the guest room I was supposed to be staying in. He put me down on the edge of the bed.
There were boxes scattered around the room.
“What is all this stuff?” I asked.
“Some of the new clothes Justin sent over for you. And a few things that weren’t damaged.” Miller opened up one of the boxes. “I knew you’d want these back.” He pulled out my mom’s blue dress and my Keds.
“What?” I stood up. “How?”
“I went back to get them for you. I know how much this dress and these shoes mean to you.”
Instead of taking the dress out of his hands, I threw my arms around him. “Thank you. For everything. For taking care of me when I had no one else. For being my shoulder to cry on.”
He placed a kiss on my forehead and unwound my arms from his waist. “Take care, kid.”
My heart wasn’t as healed as I wanted to believe. Because it felt like it just ripped down the middle as Miller walked out of the room and out of my life.
But I knew a broken heart kept beating. Mine seemed to ache all the time, but I was still here. Ow. I pressed my hand to my chest. It would eventually stop hurting. It had to.
Chapter 14
Monday
Mrs. Caldwell was humming at the stove. By the smell of cinnamon in the air, I was beginning to understand why Matt always smelled like scrumptious dessert. As much as my stomach wanted me to stay, I’d been trying to get Matt away from the dinner table for what felt like hours. Apparently Matt and Mason always did their homework sitting at the kitchen table together. It was wonderful that there was so much family time in this house. But not when I needed to tell Matt about this afternoon.
“Can we go upstairs for a bit?” I asked. The class notes Matt had brought me from school remained untouched on the table. I needed to talk to him before I could focus. God, he was going to be so mad at me.
“Someone’s anxious for alone time,” Mason said with a laugh. “I’m guessing last night went well?”
I leaned closer to Matt. “Please?” I whispered, trying to ignore Mason.
“Oh, Brooklyn,” Mrs. Caldwell said as she came back to the table carrying a pan of something with a perfectly golden crumble on top. “I meant to ask you this afternoon…but I couldn’t find you.”
Shit. I didn’t want my whereabouts to come out like this. Did she know I was with the Hunters?
“I was hoping we could do a girls’ night,” she said and started dishing out the dessert.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Maybe Friday night?” Mrs. Caldwell asked.
I glanced at Matt. He was smiling. And I was pretty sure he was just pretending to read the notes in front of him. I wondered if this was his idea or his mom’s. It didn’t matter either way. I was excited to get to know his mom better. “That sounds great,” I said.
“You can invite all your friends too. It’ll be so much fun. And it’ll give us a chance to get to know each other better.”
All my friends? The only girl friend I had was Kennedy. “Sure.” It came out as more of a question than a direct answer.
“Wonderful. About how many friends do you think you’ll invite? I’ll need a head count to figure out what we should do.”
She wanted to get to know me. And now the first thing she’d learn was that I didn’t have very many friends. I cleared my throat. “I can ask my friend Kennedy to come.”
Mrs. Caldwell smiled. “Anyone else?”
“Um…no. That’s it.”
“You know what? That’s even better. More than a handful is a crowd anyway. And maybe you boys can have James and Robert over? I feel like I haven’t seen them in ages.”
For just a second everyone was silent.
“Maybe some other night,” Mason said and scooped some of the dessert on a plate.
Wait. Did Mrs. Caldwell not know about their falling out?
Mrs. Caldwell laughed. “I feel like our fridge is overflowing. I’m used to the boys coming over for dinner at least a few nights a week. Invite them over for dinner tomorrow then.” She stood up. “I’m going to go book a few things for our girls’ night!” She looked so excited as she walked out of the kitchen.
“Your mom doesn’t know that you guys are fighting?” I asked.
“There isn’t much to tell,” Matt said.
“There is if they’re usually here all the time. What are you going to tell her when they don’t come over for dinner tomorrow?”
“That they were busy.”
“Eventually she’s going to catch on…”
“Which means we’ll never have to have an awkward conversation,” Mason said. “Just let them slowly disappear from all of our lives.”
“You can’t just delete friends from your lives.” Everyone was making this so much harder than it needed to be. It was all a huge misunderstanding. Without even realizing it, they were letting Isabella dictate their lives.
“It’s already done,” Matt said. “They wouldn’t hear me out.”
“But…”
“And James kissing you was the final straw. I’m never talking to either of them again.”
I swallowed hard. God, he was going to hate me. “Can we please go upstairs for a few minutes?” I asked.