Page 86 of His to Cherish
“Nobody important,” Chelsea told her as she passed her. “But I’m sorry about Derrick, he was a great kid.”
I called to her, but was frozen in place, unable to chase after her. I didn’t deserve her. Not after that.
She didn’t look back. She grabbed her purse and rushed out the door.
“You need to go.” I glared at Mandy and crossed my arms over my chest. Like every time she swooped into town, expecting to pretend to be a perfect little family for as long as it suited her purposes, she’d ruined everything.
Except this time, the blame was all on me.
“Can I take the guest room? It’s rather late.”
Jesus. She was clueless. She hadn’t even askedhowher son had died. Or when. Like always, he was quickly forgotten.
“No.” I walked past her and opened the front door. “Get out. We can talk about Derrick tomorrow. Come by and I’ll be here, but if you want to actually know what in the fuck happened to my son, then go get a hotel room. You’re not welcome here.”
—
I flipped my phone around in my hands, tossed it back and forth. It’d been an hour since I’d finally gotten Mandy out the door. She’d broken down in tears, huge, fake, Oscar-worthy tears, when I’d told her to get a hotel room. I didn’t have time for her shit, so I went to the kitchen and grabbed a beer, drinking it in there while she threw her fit.
Now I wanted nothing more than to fix what I’d done to Chelsea.
But this wasn’t the time for a phone call or a text. It needed to be done in person.
I’d give her the night. I’d go see her tomorrow. And I wouldn’t stop until she listened.
Not until I could convince her to forgive me, just one last time.
