Page 73 of Unraveling with You
Silence stretches between us. But my tears resurface, refusing to be shoved down anymore. I fetch another tissue, struggling to tame my breath.
“Are you sure you’re okay, Lily? Is something else going on?”
“Maybe,” I mutter.
“How about you go home, and I’ll cover for you. Do you need a few extra days off this week?”
My stomach flips. “Oh. That would be nice.”
“Go home, then. Take care of yourself.”
Giuliano rushes back to the kitchen to take my place, leaving me in a daze. I slowly fetch my things, returning my apron to my locker. Is he really taking in my words?
Or is he getting rid of me for the week to force everyone to forget about what I said? My hopes plummet. Dashing back into the kitchen, I hold my breath, expecting to see utter chaos.
But it’s silent. Calm.
Giuliano speaks low at the cutting board as everyone works. “You heard our sous chef. Things need to change around here.”
My heart is just as sore, but my shoulders loosen just enough to propel me out the doors.
All I can think about is Annabella. She went through the process of cutting ties with Mom and Dad, all alone as a teenager. Dad always faced me alone, but I similarly have no idea what he did to her. I only know she survived him long enough to leave him behind on her own, and that her rage was only evidence of how badly her heart hurt through every waking moment.
Pacing across the sidewalk in front of work, I open my phone’s contact list. I stop at the nearest bench when I zip up to her name. It’s been two years since I’ve dared to contact her, especially after she made it clear she was furious with me for paying Dad’s rent. She didn’t let me explain the full situation - that I was still on her side, not Dad’s.
But explaining myself isn’t what’s most important anymore. Even if she hates me for calling, I want to try to apologize for hurting her from the bottom of my heart. To tell her I love her, at least one last time.
Trembling on the bench, I’m wide-eyed as the dial tone rings. I cling to my scarf, shivering in the icy January wind. The longer it rings, the more I feel like a horrible person. I’m breaking her consent, aren’t I? Should I have asked Remington what he thought about this first?
But the second I hear Annabella’s frantic breath on the phone, I clutch my scarf tighter, missing her enough to warp my eyebrows.
“What’s wrong? What did he do?” She snaps, her fear prickling my skin.
“N-nothing, well–”
I swallow hard. If I tell her he bruised me recently for the first time in 15 years, she’ll lose it.
Closing my eyes, I open my heart. “That’s not why I’m calling. Annabella, I love you. I’m so sorry I hurt your feelings so drastically. No matter what everyone else says, I’ll always believe you in what they put you through, and I hate that you might think otherwise. I’d never, ever want to hurt you more after all you went through, but I did, and I’m so sorry. I’m still on your side.”
Pure silence stretches on the line, long enough for me to remove the phone from my ear to make sure we didn’t disconnect. I’m dying to jump from the bench, to run from the stinging fear in my heart that I might’ve hurt Annabella even more, but I’m frozen in terror. I don’t want to lose her forever.
Finally, Annabella sighs. “Lilibeth, I love you with my whole fucking heart, but I’m still furious with you. How could you be on my side when you’re paying for his alcohol?”
I gasp. “What?! No, Annabella, you never let me finish explaining what I meant when I said I was paying for their livelihood. I’m not cutting them a small check to just do whatever with; Dad can’t work because Mom can’t do anything herself, so I’m paying their rent - to the penny. He has to use every last bit of it to keep a roof over their heads.”
Annabeth groans. “You seriously think he’s not still using it to buy booze and going into debt? That he’s not the one making her constantly on the edge of homelessness in the first place?”
My teeth clench. “I don’t know, but what am I supposed to do, let Mom die?”
She scoffs. “I don’t know. She’d still choose him over both of us either way, so that’s her problem.”
My stomach drops to the bench beneath me, leaving me reeling. The hurt in her words wasn’t just directed at our parents this time, but me. “Do you seriously think I actually, intentionally abandoned you too? After all we both went through together?”
“No– Well, I don’t know.” Her breath hitches. “It felt like it that day. I guess I didn’t know all the details. Maybe I was a little harsh to cut you off without letting you explain, but–” She tightens her tone back into anger. “It’s more than that too. I just can’t stand to watch you hurting yourself more by going back to him. I just don’t understand it.”
I can hardly process the thoughts flooding my mind before my sister seethes through her teeth.
“It makes me sick to my stomach that you know what he does to you, yet you’re continually putting yourself in harm’s way in front of him for Mom - when she doesn’t even want you to.”
