“Well, go on.” I nudged her. She was in a daze, frozen from shock. Lincoln spun the bottle, and it landed on her. “Your birthday wish is about to come true,” I quietly said so that Linc wouldn’t hear.
Indie stood up on shaky legs and took Linc’s hand when he reached out for her. I looked at Ryder, who just shrugged. Where was Nate? He was Indie’s brother and Linc’s best friend. I was sure he wouldn’t be impressed with Linc taking Indie into the study for seven minutes, but I couldn’t see him anywhere.
Everyone waited in anticipation for the seven minutes to end, and when it finally did, Ryder jumped at the chance to run down the hall and go and call time, but before he could, Linc came back into the room with Nate. I waited for Indie, but she never showed.
“This is bad,” I whispered to Ryder. “I need to go and find her.”
“Want me to come with?”
“Nah, I’ll only be a minute.”
I ducked out of the room and headed straight upstairs to Indie’s room. She was lying on her bed. Crying.
“What happened?”
“He doesn’t want me.” She sniffed. “I heard him tell Nate that I was like his sister, and nothing happened.”
“Did something happen?” I asked, wondering if Linc would be that much of a jerk to actually kiss her when it meant nothing to him.
“He told me he would miss me when I went to uni, and then he kissed me.”
He would be that much of a jerk then. I wanted to go and find him and beat some sense into him. He had been giving her false signals for years. And this was taking it too far.
“Come on. Get up,” I told her. She needed to get back out there and show him that she didn’t care what he thought and that she wasn’t affected by him.
It was like déjà vu, only this time it wasn’t me crying on the bed all heartbroken.
“No, just tell everyone I have a stomach ache. Please, Bailey. I can’t face him now.”
I nodded and softly closed Indie’s door behind me. Linc was a jerk, and if I saw him, I was going to make sure he knew it.
When I returned, Ryder was in the hall scowling at the study door.
“What are you doing?”
“Watching.”
“Watching a door?” I leant into him and smiled. He didn’t smile back. He folded his arms across his chest and glared at the door. “Ryder, what’s wrong?”
“Kenzie spun the damn bottle.” I swear he nearly had laser beams shooting out of his eyes at the study door. I tried not to laugh.
“And?”
“And she’s in there for seven minutes with Nate.” Ryder growled.
“Nate?” My eyes widened. Ryder’s sister and Indie’s brother. Huh. I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Ryder was so protective of her, and although it was sweet, she was a big girl. With a kid.
“If he touches her, I swear to God—”
“Don’t you think you’re overreacting?”
“No.”
“She’s old enough to kiss a boy, Ryder. I mean, you do know she’s a mother and all, right? I don’t really think you can say much about it.” I wrapped my arms around his waist and kissed his cheek.
He closed his eyes and sighed. “You’re right. I know that. But it doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“Wanna go home?” I asked, knowing we needed to be up early in the morning to leave for our trip.
“Yeah.” He nodded and lunged for the study door. He banged loudly and shouted, “Time!”
***
I never knew I hated goodbyes because I’d never had to say goodbye to anyone before now. Saying goodbye to the people you loved the most sucked. It sucked a lot. We were leaving everyone behind to go to uni. I’d said goodbye to my mum earlier that morning, and it had nearly killed me. It had been me and her for eighteen years, and now I was leaving. I couldn’t imagine being so far away from her for so long. Four years felt like a lifetime.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart. You’ll be home before you know it. You can come home for weekends and for holidays and breaks. You won’t even miss me.” My mum sniffed back her tears as she hugged me goodbye before turning and hugging Ryder too. “Look after my baby.” She gave him the obligatory “she’s your responsibility now and I will hunt you down if anything happens to her” speech.
“I will, Mrs M,” Ryder reassured her as we got into his car to go say goodbye to Kenzie and Cole.
They were waiting out the front of Kenzie’s cottage when we arrived. When we pulled into the drive, Cole was standing there with balloons in his hand, and Kenzie was waving a farewell sign above her head.
I burst into tears as Kenzie dropped the sign and pulled me into her arms, making me cling to her. I couldn’t help it. I didn’t want to leave either of them.
“Bye, Uncle Wyda.” Cole cheered and handed Ryder the balloons.
“Bye, buddy. I’ll see you soon.” Ryder ruffled Cole’s hair and turned to pull me from Kenzie so he could say goodbye to her as well, but I wouldn’t let her go. I knew I was overreacting, but saying goodbye to so many people in one day had finally got too much.
Ryder let his sister go and gave Cole one last fist bump before making his way back over to the car.
“Come on. Let’s go. We have to get Indie now if we want to beat the traffic.” I nodded and wiped my tears.
“Bye.” I hugged Kenzie tighter. “Call me every day.”
“I will.”
“And email.”
“Okay.” Kenzie nodded and patted my back.
“And send me photos of Cole,” I added. “Daily.”
Kenzie laughed and nodded her head, promising me she would send daily updates.
“Bailey, I swear to…Let them go and get in the car,” Ryder yelled at me, but when I looked over, he was smiling softly.
“I don’t want to.” I looked up to the sky and blinked rapidly, trying to hide my tears before I crouched down and pulled my favourite little blond-haired, green-eyed cutie into my arms. “I’m going to miss you most of all.”
“Bye, Bayey. Wuv you.” Cole placed his tiny hands on my cheeks and pressed a kiss to the top of my head.
“Bye, buddy. I love you too.” I kissed his head and stood up before running over to the car, completely ignoring Ryder. I threw myself into the front seat and looked out the other window so I didn’t have to watch as we drove away.
“It’s okay, love. You’ll still see them all the time. We’ll come visit, and they can come to us.” He placed a hand on my thigh as he backed the car out of the driveway. “Now, let’s finally leave this small-minded town behind and go on to something better. Indie is waiting for us.”
“Okay.” I sniffed and nodded my head in agreement. I knew he was right. Kenzie and Cole would come and visit in a couple of weeks once they got settled into their new place, but it still didn’t make saying goodbye any easier.
I was glad to put this last year behind me. It was just one crazy rollercoaster of a year, and I couldn’t wait to start afresh at a new school with new friends and all new experiences.
“This is going to be a good year, Bailey,” Ryder told me as we pulled up into the parking lot after three hours on the road.
Indie had been quiet the entire trip. I knew she was still heartbroken over Linc.