Sophia, Jamie, and I are giggling at the spectacle when the front door opens, and Huxley reappears from smoking outside.Our gazes slam together for a split second before Huxley walks back to his chair at the dining room table.
I chew my lip, feeling annoyed. It’s the first time we’re in the same room since we saw each other at Eden. We haven’t spoken a word all evening.
Taking a sip of my wine, I stare at the Christmas lights reflecting off the living room windows. This is so childish. We’re both adults, we can’t keep on acting this way. I just don’t know how to fix it. Especially now that … I’ll be around a lot more often.
“Jamie, I have something to tell you,” I blurt out.
She stops halfway through her sentence and peers over curiously. Sophia does too. I let out a nervous chuckle, slightly embarrassed that I cut her off for seemingly no reason.
“It’s no big deal, really.”Only the biggest of deals.“I’ve just been waiting for the right moment to tell you.”
“Connie,” Sophia chides. “Spill.”
I shoot Sophia a wary look before continuing my meandering confession, toying with the ring on my finger as I speak. “I’m moving back to Marsford Bay.”
“No, you are not!” Sophia exclaims.
But my attention is solely on Jamie, whose hand is now covering her mouth, looking speechless.
“Are you being serious?” she mutters through her fingers.
I give her a small nod, pressing my lips together in a nonchalant confirmation.
Jamie falls silent again. Then bursts out crying.
“Oh god,” I mutter, rolling my eyes in mock defeat, so incredibly used to my best friend’s melodramatics.
As if summoned by Jamie’s tears, Ozzy pokes his head out of the kitchen. “What happened? Why is Jimbo crying?”
“I’m just so happy,” Jamie squeaks through tears.
“Connie is moving back home!” Sophia yells out over her shoulder to her brother, officially announcing it to thewhole house.
I cringe internally, infuriatingly sensitive to Huxley’s reaction to the news while everyone explodes in yips of celebration at the announcement. I make sure not to look his way while I pull Jamie into a quick hug over Sophia’s lap.
“Jamie, stop crying,” I laugh. “This ishappynews.”
We pull away from the hug, getting out of Sophia’s personal space, and Jamie chuckles tearily while dabbing the corners of her eyes. “I cry when I’m happy, you know that.”
“And when you’re sad, or angry,”—Sophia starts to enumerate with her fingers—“or when watching auditions on America’s Got Talent.”
We all burst out laughing, and Jamie playfully slaps Sophia on the arm. She then turns serious, eyes full of concern.
“But what about LA? What about your acting career?”
I turn a little awkward, thankful that everyone has returned to whatever they were doing and have stopped listening in, aside from Sophia.
My shrug is a little defeated, conveying a lot of what I refuse to say out loud.
All I end up saying is a quiet, “I just think it’s time.”
I follow it up with a meek but hopeful smile.
I didn’t make the decision lightly; I stayed up most nights last week, weighing the pros and cons. But eventually, it became painfully clear that there was nothing of substance keeping me from moving back to the East Coast. I have a few friends that I’ll miss in LA, of course, but it’s not enough to keep me there.
Not when Marsford Bay has Jamie.
“There’s something else,” I say coyly.
