“I see tears have been shed. Does that mean I missed the good part?” Chris says as he passes me on his way to the fridge.
Jackie looks at me and I see a glimmer of something in her brown eyes. I think she’s silently asking me not to tell Chris that we were talking about Adam.
“I should get going,” I say and Chris immediately closes the refrigerator door.
“I’ll walk you out.”
“Walk?” Jackie says with a chuckle, and I can’t help but laugh.
“Real funny. Make fun of the cripple.”
He waits for me to give Jackie a hug and say goodbye before he follows me to the door. I grab my purse and keys from the table in the foyer and pretend not to notice how uncomfortable Chris looks when I open and close the front door for him.
I follow him out to where my car is parked next to the curb and he looks over my car. It needs to be washed, but I haven’t gotten my first full paycheck yet from my new job at the used textbook store.
We stand in silence for a moment while we both try to think of something to say. Finally, he looks me in the eye and I recognize that look. It’s the same look he gave me the day we broke up. The look that broke my heart and it has the same effect on me now.
“I’m sorry that I never called you after I left last year. I know I fucked everything up.”
“I think we both did a pretty good job of that.”
“No, this is my fault. If I had fought harder for us, we wouldn’t be in this situation with Abigail and everything would be different. We’d still be together. You know that, don’t you?”
I sigh then nod, because it’s true. It’s Saturday. If we hadn’t made all these stupid mistakes, we’d probably be lying in bed in my dorm or hanging out at Tristan’s house entertaining whatever girl he brought home that weekend. We’d be wrapped up in each other, two ribbons of the same color twisted and tied together, inextricable and indistinguishable.
He leans his crutches against the side of my car and holds out his hand. I stare at it for a moment, my heart pounding as I try not to think that this is one of those moments where everything changes—a turning point. I reach out and he takes my hand in his then pulls me toward him. I wrap my arms around his waist and bury my face in his shoulder.
“Can I call you tonight?” he asks in that soft, sexy voice he uses when he’s on stage.
I try not to laugh. “Yeah, I guess that’s okay. You still haven’t heard anything from Tasha?”
“Not yet,” he says as he pulls his head back to look at me. “But I swear I’m working on it. I’m not giving up.”
“I should go.”
He kisses my forehead and I sigh as his fingers trail down the side of my face and land on my neck. “Drive safely, babe.”
He grabs his crutches and steps back as he watches me get into the car. I turn the key in the ignition then jump when he knocks on my window. I roll it down and he smiles.
“Please wash your car.”
“Way to kill the moment, douche.”
“I put some money in your bank account yesterday, which you probably didn’t notice because judging by the negative balance you probably never check your account.”
I don’t know if I should punch him or kiss him or cry from embarrassment. “That’s not funny.”
“I know. That’s why I took care of it. Please don’t let it get to that point again.” He smacks the top of my car. “And wash this thing.” He leans his head through the window and kisses my cheek then whispers in my ear, “I’ll always take care of you.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Adam
AFTER THAT TEXT MESSAGE FROM Claire, I was about ready to completely give up on Claire, if it weren’t for the talk I had with Yuri last night. Sometimes I feel like Yuri’s the craziest person I know and other times I feel like he’s the only person I know who has any sense. His nuggets of wisdom come mostly from his upbringing. Both his parents were humanists and his mother was a surfer when she was younger.
“Dude, the quickest path to self-destruction is to push away the people you love,” he had said as he lay on the bed in the hotel room in Maui and I sat in the desk chair, both of us sipping beers and admiring the view out the hotel window.
“You sound like your mom.”
“Because my mom is the shit.”
I finish off my beer and pull another one out of the bucket of ice on the desk. “I think I fucked up majorly, but I don’t know how to fix it other than jumping on a plane and going back to her.”
“You can use my ticket and I’ll stay here and pretend to be you.”