Page 110 of The Devastation You Reap

“When was the last time you went to your uncle’s?” he asks after we’ve been driving for a few minutes.

“Uh… Last summer.”

He gives me a double take, his brows pulled together.

I’m about to ask what’s bothering him when he speaks.

“You didn’t go there for the holidays?”

Shit.

“Um… no.”

I twist my fingers together knowing that he’s about to ask me what I did do and I know that I’m not going to get away with lying to him like I did everyone else so they didn’t look at me with pity in their eyes.

“But he’s your only family, right? Where did you go?”

“I… um… booked a cabin in the woods and spent the entire break there,” I confess quietly.

“Alone?”

“Yes.”

I startle when his palms slam down on the wheel.

“Fuck. Fuck.”

“It was okay. I enjoyed it.”

“You shouldn’t have to spend the holidays alone, Macie.”

I shrug. “It is what it is. It’s normal to me.”

His fingers twist around the wheel, his healing knuckles turning white with the force of his grip.

“That’s bullshit.”

“I like my own company. What about you, big family Christmas?”

“Not last year. It was just me, Luca and Mom for most of it. Luca was in a really bad place so even when he was present in body he wasn’t really there. Mom tried to make the best of it, but his mood was infectious.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s all good. I’ve since discovered the reason for his mood was his girl and they’ve finally kissed and made up.”

“Peyton?” I ask, although I already know the answer. Letty told me all about her when we met for lunch this week.

“Yeah. We all grew up together but she moved when we were fifteen.”

“I can’t wait to meet her. Letty had only good things to say about her.”

He looks over at me, his eyes running over every inch of my face briefly before he turns back to the road.

“You’re really just slotting right into my life, huh?”

“I… um… She invited me for lunch, I could hardly—”

“Hey, it’s okay. Letty is good people. You could do a hell of a lot worse than having her as a friend.” He glances over again and I can’t help but feel like he’s holding something back.