Page 139 of Whispers and Wildfire
“I’ll go to my brother’s house. Or my parents’.” She dug her phone out of her purse. “I’ll see who’s around.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Yeah, I think I do.” She started walking down the hall, her eyes on her phone.
“Why?”
She disappeared into the bedroom without answering.
Rolling my eyes in frustration, I followed her. “What’s going on?”
“What do you mean, what’s going on?” She had her bag on the bed and was stuffing things in it. “A psycho murderer is terrorizing the town, and I can’t even stay at my own house. That’s what’s going on.”
“We can sleep over there if you want.”
“That’s not what I mean,” she snapped.
I was trying, and probably failing, to keep my voice from rising. “Then what do you mean? Why can’t you stay here?”
“What are we doing, Luke?” She started gesturing wildly as she spoke. “We decide to start dating again because we both got jealous. What is that about? And then you move me in because you’re afraid I’m going to be the next victim. Sohere we are, playing house, like this is all a great idea and our lives aren’t spinning completely out of control.”
“What am I supposed to do? Leave you alone and let you be an easy target?”
“This isn’t about him!”
I was ready to tear my hair out. “Then what the fuck is it about?”
She opened her mouth like she was going to answer, then shut it again and started shoving more clothes in her bag. Without bothering to zip it closed, she grabbed it off the bed and shouldered her way past me.
“Where are you going?” I asked, following her into the living room.
“My brother’s house.”
“At least let me drive you.”
“No.”
“Mel, just let me drive you over there.”
“I’ll call him on the way and he can meet me outside, since this stupid town is so insane I can’t even walk from my car to someone’s front door without an escort.”
As soon as she put her hand on the doorknob, a strange sense of panic seized me, making my chest tighten. It wasn’t just fear, it was a memory—an awful memory. One that I’d tried very hard to forget.
For a second, it left me frozen. She was going to walk out and that was going to be it. It didn’t seem like we’d just had a breakup argument, but it hadn’t the first time, either. I’d been blindsided then just as hard.
And I’d let it happen.
I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. Teenage me had figured she’d get over whatever had made her mad. That we’d get back together in a day or two and everything would be fine.
We hadn’t. And there had been nothing fine about it. Not that day, or in any of the days since.
In that moment, everything became so clear I almost laughed. My anger melted, even as I watched her open the door and start to leave.
“I love you,” I said.
She stopped in her tracks, her back to me.
My beautiful mess.
