I should tell them to take their food and send them packing, but then I think about where I was moments before they showed up. I was on the edge of breaking, so instead I glare at them and say, “This doesn’t make us friends.”
Hayes smirks. “You’ll give in eventually.”
“Don’t get your hopes up,” I say, doing just that and sitting at the table.
Settling in, I snatch a to-go container out from in front of Campbell and stuff my mouth with food. Silas chuckles and slurps on his milkshake.
“So—things didn’t go as planned today.” Hayes’s voice is hesitant, as if gauging my reaction.
“We aren’t talking about this,” I growl, danger lurking in my voice, but Campbell doesn’t pick up on it. The man is an oblivious idiot.
“It might make you feel better,” he says with his mouth full, having gotten another plate of food after I stole his.
“It won’t.”
“But what if—”
“No.”
“How about—”
“No.”
“Fine,” Campbell says, sitting back in a huff and crossing his arms.
“If you won’t talk about that, then let’s talk about Lily,” Hayes suggests. “What’s going on with you guys?”
“Nothing.”
He shrugs. “Maybe there should be.”
I scoff. “Yeah, because I’m exactly the kind of problem she needs. I think she’d pass.”
“You don’t know that,” Silas says, tipping his cup my way. “Maybe you’re both what the other needs.”
“And maybe you’re delusional. Look, just drop it before I’m tempted to kick you out.”
Nothing about me is what Lily needs—and after today, I’ll be lucky if she even talks to me. When the hearing was over, she let me off easy. I owed her answers, but I think she saw the devastation in my eyes because she laid her hand on my arm and said, “We’ll talk later.”
It made me a coward, but I took the out she gave me and let her walk away. Tanner left with Josephine, and I went home alone.
“Fine, but all I’m saying is that Lily is struggling just as much as you are,” Hayes says. “I saw you guys at my engagement party, and I think you could help each other.”
“I said no.” My voice leaves no room for argument this time.
Hayes throws his hands up in the air.
“I get it. You think she’d be better off with Campbell here,” Silas says. His voice is even. I see what he’s doing, but it doesn’t stop me from reacting.
“No,” I snap. “But that doesn’t mean I’m any good for her. You don’t know me.”
Silas shrugs. “So, you’ve got a past. We all do. God hasn’t cut me down at the knees for it yet.”
I turn my head so he can only see parts of my face. “If God is paying attention to me, he’s probably waiting for me to get something right.” I chuckle, the sound harsh in my throat. “I’m waiting for me to getsomething right.”
Hayes rolls his eyes. “The problem is you’re too hung up on doing something right. Just do something good.”
“I’m nogoodfor Lily, either.” As the words leave my mouth, I realize I’ve just ousted myself.
