Page 38 of Cloudy With a Chance of Bad Decisions
I considered it. It would be the adult thing to do. Mature. I had no idea what had happened between our earlier fight and now. Clearly something—if he was approaching me with a white flag raised.
But I simply wasn’t interested.
“C’mon Mavis, let’s go find your mom,” I said instead of acknowledging him. Alex blinked, obviously surprised. Mavis ignored me, even going so far as to wiggle to the other side of the sandbox so she could build another castle away from us.
“George—” Alex tried.
“I’m not talking to you.” I cut him off. Half in the box and half out, I was at a crossroads. This was not a conversation I wanted to have with Mavis around. But then again…she acted as a buffer. Forced him to behave, at least somewhat.
Unless Roderick had been lying when he’d said Alex liked kids.
“Look—”
“No,youlook.” I jabbed a finger at him, honestly so fucking done with this entire fucking day. Hushed enough Mavis wouldn’t hear, I spoke again, enunciating every syllable. “I haven’t been home for eightfuckingyears. Eight.Years. And after the shittiest year of my life, all I wanted was to come here—to see my mom—to get to pretend for one fuckingweekthat my life isn’t a goddamn shit show.”
Alex’s eyes were wide. He looked caught in a way he hadn’t before.
“Andyou…” I sucked in a breath, then deflated. “Jesus. I’m not going to pretend like I wasn’t at fault too, but we both know you were fucking with me—why? I have no idea. And frankly, I don’t care.” Surprisingly mature, I know. “I can’t be around you. I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to make peace with you—if that’s why you’re here. In fact, I want to be as far away from you as fucking possible for the rest of this goddamn trip.”
Alex was quiet.
Uncharacteristically quiet. Like until that moment he hadn’t realized how far he’d pushed me. He opened his mouth, blue eyes swimming with complex emotion. “I…” He sucked in a breath. “I’m sorry, George.” There was a lot packed into that simple apology. “I didn’t mean to.”
It caught me off guard how much I wanted to believe it. But I didn’t have it in me.
“Yes, you did,” I said in reply. “Now will you please just…leave me alone?” And then, because I was making a point, I plopped back down into the spot I’d abandoned.
Alex rose from his seat, folding that big body up, then straightening. He blocked the setting sun from view as he shuffled in front of me, dark brow furrowed like he didn’t know what to say. Our positions were mirrored. In a way it felt poetic.
That was fine.
“I…” Alex trailed off, awkwardly standing there. For the first time since I’d met him, he looked off-kilter. The spark in his eyes was missing entirely. “Okay. Sure. Whatever you want.” His hands clenched at his sides, big fists squeezing anxiously, once, twice, three times.
And then he left.
Like I’d wanted.
And I could breathe again.
He didn’t go far, flirting with one of my mother’s friends in the center of the yard, and then my mother herself. I kept an eye on him—for insurance. But even I could tell the flirting was half-hearted. There was a droop to him that hadn’t been there before. And he kept giving me these sad puppy eyes. Way fucking worse than when I’d left him alone on the plane.
I was tempted to storm over there and separate him from Mom, but I didn’t. Not when she looked at him fondly, nodding along to whatever he was saying—even going so far as to reach out at one point and lay a hand on his arm. I had no idea what he was telling her. Something stupid, no doubt. Even if…judging by her expression, it was sincere.
Alex knew my family.
Maybe better than I did, considering how far away I lived.
It pissed me off to no end how attractive he looked. And also? It wasn’t fucking fair that seeing him talk to my Mom ignited a flurry of butterflies in my belly. Butterflies I squashed as quickly as they appeared.
I hadn’t been lying when I’d told him I was done with him.
And I was…kind of proud of myself. I’d only ever stuck up for myself once before, when I’d broken up with Brendon—and that had been after a panic attack or two, and actual real physical evidence that proved he was a goddamn liar.
So, it was odd that with Alex, I’d managed it so easily.
How was it fair that the only man I’d ever been fully honest with was such a fucking dick?
And what about him made me feel safe to speak my mind?
