“Don’t you know people?” she snaps, looking over her shoulder as she pulls open one of my closet doors.
“In Arizona?” He shakes his head.
“I can call someone,” Matthew offers, and just like that I giggle again.
“You’re the best, Uncle Matthew,” I declare, feeling like I haven’t in a while. Most likely in shock, but I’ll take this feeling.
“We’ll get you out of here,” he assures me and I can see him swallow.
By ten thirty, I’m walking out of my house with my hand in my father’s. The emergency movers my uncle got are pulling out of the driveway with all of my clothes in it, along with all my office stuff. I left everything else, not wanting to take anything.
“Where is he?” Dad finally asks me once I’m sitting on the private plane and the doors close.
“At his apartment in the city,” I tell him, looking out of the window.
“I need a drink,” my mother announces from beside me and the phone rings from my purse.
“Put it on speaker,” Uncle Matthew urges once I pull it out and see it’s him.
I close my eyes before I press the connect button and place it on speaker. “Hello.”
“Morning,” he greets, “how did you sleep?”
“I didn’t,” I answer him honestly.
“Well, that’s because you had a lot to think about. I hate fighting with you, Lexi, but you left me no choice.” I hang my head and feel my mother put her hand in mine. “Don’t you think you could have acted better?”
I hear hissing and look over to see Uncle Matthew holding on to the armrests with his head back as he looks up at the ceiling of the plane. “I don’t,” I finally reply.
“I can see that you are upset. You have to admit, Lexi, you have no one to blame for this besides yourself.”
I close my eyes. “I’m leaving you, Trent.”
He laughs as if I just told him the funniest joke he’s ever heard. “Yeah, right.” I wait for him to get over his stint of laughter. “What’s gotten into you?”
“Nothing has gotten into me,” I refute. “I finally saw what was right in front of my face.”
“Lexi, I’m going to take a shower and then I’m going to come home and we are going to talk about things. And you are going to see how much different things would have gone if only you?—”
“I’m done.” My voice cuts him off. “I’m done letting you darken my light, and I’m not coming back, not now, not ever, Trent.”
“You can’t leave me!” he roars.
“Yes, I can.” I finally inhale deeply. “And I did. Goodbye, Trent.”
twelve
Kirby
Three months later
I walk into the lobby and head straight over to the elevator. There is a man sitting behind the desk in the middle of the path leading to the elevators. He looks up from whatever is in front of him and he points at me. “Are you Materson?” He uses my last name, and I nod my head.
“I am.” I stop at the side of his desk and hold out my hand. “Nice to meet you,” I tell him.
“You guys going to bring the Cup home this year?” he asks, and I am almost tempted to roll my eyes in the back of my head.
“That’s the plan,” I politely answer, instead of answering him with the real answer. The season hasn’t even started, so how the fuck does anyone know who is going to win the Cup? “It’s never over until it’s over.”
