“I heard something this afternoon,” Katie said, pausing to swirl her glass of wine around. We were sitting in the living room, Katie in the old armchair that nobody ever sat in, Tessa on the other side of the couch with me and Elle sitting crossed legged on thefloor.
They’d finally roped me into doing the girls’ night that Tessa and Elle had threatened me with after finding out about Travis. I’d told Katie to come along, thinking that I would need an ally against the other two. Gauging by her tone, I wondered if I would come to regretthat.
“What’s that?” I asked, reaching forward to grab a small handful of popcorn. According to Tessa, girl’s nights had to include boxed wine, five different candy selections, and popcorn. If Aiden wasn’t already in bed, he’d be livid atme.
“That Aiden told off Kristen and Melanie at the grocery store yesterday,” Katie finished, arching her eyebrows atme.
“He did,” I nodded, trying not tosmile.
“Really? What happened?” Tessa asked, her eyebrows raising in surprise. Aiden was gentle and kind-hearted, he didn’t often haveoutbursts.
“He overheard the things they were saying about me, and he went off on them for being mean. He alsomighthave called them ugly, which wasn’t coolbut—“
“If the shoe fits,” Elle muttered. “Theyarepretty ugly, personalitywise.”
I shrugged, nonplused. “Whatever, I’m beginning to realize that I don’t actually care what theythink.”
“Cheers!” Katie proclaimed, lifting herglass.
Not long after that, the girls roped me into talking about the trip to BalaFalls.
“Is he still leaving in September?” Elleasked.
Adjusting so that I was sitting with my legs tucked beneath me, I lifted one shoulder up in a shrug. “We haven’t really discussed it yet, but I’d imagine so. I can’t picture him walking away from music, and I don’t want himto.”
“People make long distance relationships work all the time,” Tessa said with a dismissive wave of her hand. She wasn’t concerned about it, but Iwas.
The feelings I’d been so worried about catching were beginning to afflict me, to the point where the very idea of going months without seeing him made me feel absolutelydreadful.
“You should definitely havethatconversation soon,” Katie interjected, giving me a pointed look as if she knew where my head hadgone.
“I will. He’s coming over for dinner on Thursday, and we’ll talk after Aiden’s in bed,” I informedher.
“Are you cooking?” Elle asked, her lips twitching with amusement. I nodded, and she grinned. “Better tell him beforehand,then.”
Using oven mitts, I carefully removed the lasagna I’d spent the last two hours trying to cook. Tessa had sent me the recipe, insisting that not even I could mess it up. I’d been extra careful to follow her instructionsperfectly.
I set it down on the stove top, hoping that it tasted as good as it looked. Cooking wasn’t really my forte, but Travis had already prepared a fancy meal for me and I felt that it was my turn to make something other than frozen pizza. Knowing how he felt about cooking made me want to tryharder.
Knuckles rapped against the door, and I called for Aiden to answer it. Travis was right on time. I grabbed the shiny silver spoon holder off the stove, using it as a mirror to make sure I looked okay. My hair was a little messy in the high ponytail I’d thrown it in, so I did my best to smooth itout.
“Is your mom home?” a voice that definitely wasn’t Travis’s asked. I froze for a fraction of a second before darting out of the kitchen and down the hallway to the front door. Aiden held the door open, frowning while he stared at the stranger in front ofhim.
“Yes. Who areyou?”
My heart dropped into my stomach when I came face to face with Richie for the first time in over eight years. “Aiden, go to your roomplease.”
“ButMom!”
“Now!” I barked, my hands trembling. I normally wasn’t one to yell, and Aiden’s eyes widened with surprise. I gave him a look and he scurried down the hall to his room. I braced myself, raising my eyes to look at the monster that had terrorized me foryears.
Richie didn’t look like the carefree boy I’d fallen for all those years ago. The constant use of hard drugs had aged him. His hair was thinning, his skin was sallow, and he was dressed in torn jeans and a black t-shirt that fit loosely over his wiry arms. His cheeks were sunken in, but the same cruel dark brown eyes still looked back at me, a glint to them that I didn’ttrust.
“Long time no see, Becky,” the sound of his voice made my skincrawl.
“You can’t come within thirty feet of either one of us,” I said, surprised to find that my voice wasn’t shaking as badly as I expected it to. “Leave right now, or I’ll call thecops.”
“I’m not leaving until I get what I came here for,” Richie shrugged, enjoying the panic he was causing. The colour drained from my face, and I stared at him with astoundedhorror.
