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There were a few minutes of silence after that, and I could almost see the expression on her face as she thought it over. I have asked myself that same question many times. Why did I decide to go after that particular car when it had clearly crossed the intersection before the light turned yellow? I still don’t have an answer.

Skye: If you hadn’t...

Logan: I like to think we would have met anyway. We live practically on top of each other and we both go to Pat’s.

Skye: Yes, but...

I can see the dots flowing on the screen. She’s still typing.

Skye: We lived next to each other for three years and never met.

Logan: It was not the right time, I guess.

Skye: My mom would agree with you. She’d love you for saying that.

From the fewtimes we talked about her family, I got the impression that Serena, her mom, is a very spiritual person. I’m not religious and don’t know much about any of it. Religion is another thing my father vetoed. But a lot of the guys at work are superstitious, and I have seen and heard enough to take heed and have a healthy respect for gut feelings.

Skye says her mom is a modern hippie. River calls their mother the Woo-Woo Lady. She doesn’t seem to take it as seriously as Skye, but I might be wrong. River is really hard to read. As outspoken and sometimes abrasive with her no-holds-barred honesty as she is, I have a feeling she hides a lot. No proof. Just a... I laugh. Just a gut feeling.

Skye: How late are you working tonight?

Logan: Until midnight.

Skye: :(

Skye: I was hoping you’d be done early. Bruno is coming over and we’re making pizza.

Fuck!

Fucking Bruno.

I hadn’t seen or heard of him for over a week. I thought he’d gotten the hint and backed off. I guess not.

Now, I’m annoyed and jealous. Jealous of the time they spend together, jealous because I can’t be there. Jealous of the three years they had together before we met. It’s completely irrational, I know. I’ve never been the jealous type. And it's not that I don’t trust Skye, because I do, even with all the crap I’m still carrying around since I found Amanda and my father fucking in my bed. It’s that I don’t trust Bruno. Or any guy, for that matter. But River should be there too, so at least there’s that.

Logan: Sorry, I wish I could. Just the three of you then?

Skye: Three?

Skye: Oh, you mean River. No, just us two. River has a study group after school tonight and won’t be home until later.

Red-hot, jealous anger takes a place in my chest and weighs me down into the seat. Jesus! I need to get ahold of myself. The need to bust into her little pizza dinner party for two is like a living, screaming thing inside me. And it's ugly.

I could stop at Pat’s Cafe for a coffee. Nothing wrong with getting a cup of coffee during a late-night shift. It’s expected, even. And if I take a short walk down the block... the ugly, screaming little beast inside me likes this plan and quiets down.

Chapter Thirty-Five

“Dude!You’d better not eat everything, or River is going to be so mad at you.”

“What?”

Bruno talks around a mouthful of pizza.

“There’s a whole other pie waiting to be baked in the fridge.”

I can’t believe he can pack all that away, but then again, he is a big guy. He’s already on his third slice to my one and only. I could never eat more than one slice of pizza, two if they are the thin crust kind.

“I’m saving that one for tomorrow, for Logan.”