Page 36 of Running from Drac

She giggles.

Once outside, Rich and Wesley take off with Poppy, leaving me alone with Amber. There’s a strange silence that falls between us as I open the door to my truck and let her in. She eyes the dent on the side and gives me a sideways look as I close the door.

“What happened to your truck?” she asks when I open the driver’s door.

Shrugging, I slide into the driver’s seat and turn toward her. “Want the real reason or a fake answer?”

“I guess the real reason…” She eyes me curiously.

“The night you told me you cheated on me; I took a bat to it. Gave her a little makeover in the process. It cost me a taillight and a headlight.”

“Oof, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, Beatrice can take a hit.”

Amber looks out the window as I start up the truck, pulling out of the parking lot a few moments later. She’s very quiet, and all I want to know is what she’s thinking.

“You okay?”

She gives me a weak look. “Not really.”

“What’s up?”

Her hands wring in her lap as she fights with whatever she’s about to say. “I guess I just miss you, that’s all.”

Relief washes over me. “I miss you too.”

Our eyes meet when I pull up to the stoplight. She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “I really am sorry, Eddie.”

“Don’t be. We both said a lot of things that day we’d like to take back. I’ve thought a lot about our fight since then. You were right, I don’t take care of you the way I should. You really put a lot of things into perspective for me. Things that I need to work on.”

“Like what?”

“Like putting your needs before my own. Showing you that I love you instead of blindly saying it like it’s just another sentence.”

Her head rests against the back of my passenger seat and she sighs. “I wish I could take back everything that happened in Vegas. I never meant to hurt you, Eddie.”

“I know, Amber. I’m sorry for being a hypocrite.”

She nibbles on her bottom lip for a few seconds before speaking again. “Do you think it’s too late for us to mend things?”

If you knew about what happened with Pippa, you’d never forgive me.The thought stays in my head, even though I so badly want to come clean. This is one secret even I’m not brave enough to admit.

“I don’t know, Amber. A lot has happened. I love you, I don’t know if I’ll ever stop, but we break up so much it’s become exhausting.”

“I know,” she whispers. “I wish it wasn’t that way.”

Chuckling, I pull onto her street, unable to hold back the thought that pops in my head. “You know, my mother predicted we’d break up at least four times before we finally got the hang of this.”

“Really? I thought you hated when your mom reads you?”

“I do, but she didn’t give me a choice. She grabbed my palm, spit in it, and then read my love lines.”

“Gross.”

“She at least gave me hand sanitizer afterward, but yeah, pretty gross.”

“Four times, huh?”