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“His name is Jeremy Bradford. His father is James Bradford, of Bradford Energy. They’ve been dating for nearly seven months…” she keeps talking but I tune her out.
Seven months.
Henley moved on from me before she even had time to unpack her bags.
For some reason, I look down and find a young girl of about ten staring up at me from the kitchen table, a plate of raw vegetables and a glass of water in front of her. She looks like someone just kicked her puppy through the uprights.
I reach into my jacket pocket and pull out the roll of cherry Lifesavers I bought at the train station.
They’re Henley’s favorite.
I offer them to her and wink, even though I’m having a hard time keeping it together. The little girl swipes the candy out of my hand before I can blink, jumping up from her seat at the table to run out of the room before her contraband candy can be discovered and confiscated.
“… better than you in almost every way.” Henley’s mother finally stops talking, turning toward me with what I think is supposed to be a sympathetic smile. “I know you have feelings for her, Conner—though I can’t for the life of me understand what you saw in her.”
What I saw in her? Like who she is now is lightyears away from the girl I knew. Like the girl I’m looking at now is a complete stranger. Like the girl she is now is somehow better.
“I don’t have feelings for her. I love her.”
I don’t even realize I said it out loud until I hear her mother laugh at me.
“Love her? Don’t be childish.” She pats my arm. Her fingers feel like claws. When I shift away from her and out of her grasp she gives me an irritated eye roll. “It’s time to set that aside and think about what’s best for you both. Move on.”
Set it aside? Move on. I want to ask her if she’s serious. If she even knows what she’s saying. Understands what she’s asking me to do. Instead, I state the obvious. “You’re not going to let me talk to her.” I’m not asking but she answers me anyway.
“What would that accomplish?” She gives me what I’m sure she thinks is a sympathetic smile. “She’s happier without you—surely you can see that.”
The bitch of it is, I can.
I can see it.
Fingers still gripped around the wrapped package I’ve been holding since I left my house six hours ago, I turn away from the window and see myself out.
I’m halfway down the driveway when I hear him.
“Hey.”
I turn around hands gripped around the gift I brought for Henley. It seems stupid now. Living in a place like this, she probably has a million books more than she could ever read in a lifetime.
“You’re Conner Gilroy.” He doesn’t offer his hand and it’s a good thing because I’d probably rip his arm off and beat him to death with it if he did. “I’m Jeremy.”
“I heard.”
He’s better than you in almost every way.
He leans away from me, a puzzled look on his face, like he’s not used to being talked to this way and he’s not sure how to react. His confusion doesn’t last long. “You don’t belong here, Gilroy, and she doesn’t belong to you. Not anymore.”
It bothers me that this asshole is talking about Henley like she’s a thing. Like he owns her.
That she’d let him kiss her.
I don’t say anything. I can’t. If I open my mouth I’m going to start screaming and I’m never going to stop.
So I do the only thing I can.
I just nod and walk away.