Page 28

Tina

“W ell, what are you waiting for, girlie, an engraved invitation? Come on back.”

With as much enthusiasm as one has getting a root canal, I walk through the open door into Aldo’s office. He’s sitting behind his desk with a half-eaten tuna sandwich off to the side, like I interrupted his lunch. “What can I help you with, sweetie?”

Oh, yuck. I shake off the icky feeling and slide the letter across his desk. I found it taped to my front door when I went to check on the house this morning. “What is this?”

He doesn’t even look at it. “Times are tough, Red, and a man’s gotta eat.”

What is it with people forgetting my name? I fold my arms. “I signed a contract with you.”

“You did indeed, but as I recall, nowhere in it does it say I can’t raise my rates.”

I grind my molars. I’ve been dutifully sending him my payments since I started working with Dustin, but I was already so far behind, with this added interest I’ll never get caught up.

He places his hands flat on his desk and leans forward. “Are you saying you can’t pay this month?”

Sighing, I hand over as much cash as I could come up with. He fans the money out like a losing hand. He stares at my offering like he’s waiting for the punchline before picking it up and shaking it in my direction. “This barely makes a dent.”

“I’ll get the rest, I promise.” I wince at how cliché my words sound. How many people have said the same? Even with the money from the estate sale Stan and Dee helped me with, I still don’t have enough money. I’m so screwed.

The last of my meager belongings get loaded onto the small moving truck as I watch from the front window of the house I grew up in. It’s so surreal, seeing your whole life reduced to a few measly boxes. The for-sale sign in the yard is a glaring reminder that soon I’ll no longer have a home.

All I feel is tired. Tired and lonely. I miss Dustin. I miss his body heat in bed. I miss his silly humor. God, help me, I even miss his mess. He doesn’t seem to feel the same, because while I lie cradling his pillow every night, his texts are few and far between.

Stan and Dee offered to help with the packing, but I couldn’t stomach their worried looks today. Do they think I don’t notice how their conversations halt when I enter a room? How they stare at me like they’re waiting for me to burst into tears? They must think I’m emotionally damaged when I don’t cry.

“It’s weird I haven’t cried, right?”

Rosa’s scoff comes through the phone. “Says who?” I can hear her nails clicking away on her keyboard as she works.

“You don’t think so?”

“That’s the point.” A drawer shuts in the background. Her chair wheels squeak and I can picture her gliding from the filing cabinet to her desk. “Whatever you’re feeling—nothing or everything—is exactly right. What I think you should or shouldn’t feel is irrelevant. Why do some people think they have a right to our every action and emotion?”

Something tells me she’s not just talking about me anymore. “Sometimes I think I’m broken,” I say.

She sighs. “Oh, my sweet friend. You’re not broken, just bruised, and bruises fade, si ?”

If anyone knows the truth of that statement, it’s Rosa. She lost her mother at eighteen. With no father in the picture, it left her and her brother alone to find their own way. Lucky for them, Christian and Frankie came into their lives not long afterward, took them in and gave them jobs. And as much as she hates to admit it, she has Lucius too.

I don’t remember much about my parents before they died, but it didn’t keep me from missing the idea of them. Then after Gram died it was just me and Gramps and Connor. When I lost Connor, I thought nothing could be worse.

But whoever controls my fate decided to throw salt in the gaping wound.

My periods had always been irregular, so when I turned up two months late after Connor’s death, I chalked it up to stress. The loss of appetite, sleeping all hours of the day, and emotions all over the place were classic signs of grief. In the end, it had been Gramps who entered my bedroom and, without saying anything, placed a pregnancy test on my nightstand.

Two pink lines later, I went from mourning my boyfriend to cradling life in my body. Hope grew so bright everything else seemed to pale. I couldn’t wait to tell Stan and Dee, thinking the news would bring them some comfort too, but when I burst into their house all excited and glowing, they just sat there stunned. I didn’t let their reaction dampen my joy, though. I desperately needed something to ground me. So every day I bonded with my baby, a new lease on life. Then late one night, the cramping and bleeding started.

I cried then.

Bending, I slip Connor’s last note to me into the pocket of my suitcase at my feet for safekeeping. “I wish there was an instruction manual for this stuff.”

“If there was,” Rosa begins, “life might be easier, but boring and predictable.”

My mind instantly goes to Dustin and his erratic mood changes. “I could use some boring and predictable.”

“You should’ve picked a different best friend, then.” Her snort of laughter is like a balm to my aches.

“Didn’t you just tell me your opinions were irrelevant?”

“I did, didn’t I? Well, I guess you’re stuck with me.”

“Thanks, Rosa.”

“What are friends for?”

Honestly, I forgot how nice it was to have friends to talk to. Gramps is great, but some things you just can’t discuss with your grandparents. I end the call with Rosa and return to observing the movers.

I’m so lost in thought I nearly jump out of my skin when a throat clears beside me. “We’re all done, Tina.”

Before turning around, I prepare myself for the shock of seeing Dustin’s friend, Tucker, up close again. The first time I met him at Jack’s gym, I was tongue-tied. He’s just so… pretty. The tall blond man stares at me now with a look in his piercing blue eyes like he knows the effect he has on women. I can’t help but think using a face like his for a punching bag is a crime.

“Thank you,” I say.

“It’s my pleasure. The guys will get your stuff over to Dustin’s right away.”

I close the door behind Tucker and face the empty house full of echoes from my past. The ink on the door jamb where Gram and Gramps marked my growth. The kitchen where Gram taught me how to cook. The front steps where Connor and I had our first kiss—awkward and monumental. The house I’ll never sell in time to help pay Aldo.

There’s someone following me. It’s completely absurd to think I’m important enough to garner such attention, but after meeting with Aldo, I wouldn’t put it past the sleazy bottom feeder to keep a close eye on me like I’m going to skip town.

Skip town? Christ. Now I don’t just sound paranoid, I sound like I belong in a gangster movie. I admit, it must look shady—me packing up everything I own in a matter of days. I laugh at how ridiculous I’m being until I see it again, the same dark truck I noticed earlier. It’s a few car lengths back but keeping pace. Curious, I decide to try a little cloak-and-dagger move. I change lanes and they follow suit. I’m stuck somewhere between being excited I’m not imagining things and scared I’m right.

For the next ten minutes, I waste way too much gas making one unnecessary turn after another, testing them. I turn. They turn. Rinse and repeat. Then they disappear. Pulling myself together, I spend the rest of the drive checking my mirrors, expecting my stalker to appear from a side street, but I don’t see them again.

Later, at Dustin’s house, I’m passing by a window when I spot what looks like the same dark truck parked down the street. I take the steps two at a time to get a better look from the bedroom window. My phone rings and I answer without checking the caller ID. “Hello?”

“Miss me, mouse?”

I stumble a step at the sound of Dustin’s voice after so many days of radio silence. I’ve missed him so much it’s embarrassing, but I keep it to myself, not sure I can trust these feelings. “Like a toothache,” I say instead, peeking through the binoculars at my stalker.

His laugh is sexy and reaches through the line, striking between my legs. “I know where you ache, babe, and it ain’t in your teeth.” There’s a pause and then—“How are you really?”

Sexy Dustin is a tease. Kind Dustin is my undoing. I sag against the windowsill, staring out into the dusky evening. I’m shocked to feel the sting of tears. They don’t fall, but it’s the closest I’ve come in years. The weight of my problems suffocates me, and I wish he was here to fold me in his arms. That’s when I decide to tell him about everything… my looming debt, Aldo, and the person following me.

My confession is met with silence.