Another ten miles pass in silence.
“What did you have planned tonight?” I ask.
He smiles. “I picked an early time so I could take you back home. I thought we could hang out at your house like you originally wanted to do this week. Just you and me. And then we could swing by the field later. Eli and them are having a bonfire tonight.”
I give him a big smile, but the more I think about it, the faster my smile disappears.
He looks from the road to me. “That is what you wanted to do this week, right? That’s what you said. I’m just trying to give you what you want.”
“That is what I said.” But why couldn’t he give it to me before?
He lets out a frustrated breath. He puts on the blinker and takes the next exit. “I need some gas.”
We pull into the station and I wander around the store, looking for snacks. Griffin joins me and we each get a drink and a bag of chips.
When I’m back in the truck, my phone buzzes in my pocket. It’s a notification that Griffin has tagged me in a post.
I glance at him, but he isn’t looking at me. I swipe open my phone and see it’s a selfie he just took of us while we were standing in the checkout line. He’s got the phone held up high and he’s looking at the camera, but I’m looking at my phone. The caption reads:Glad I can be here for my girl.
What the…Did he seriously stand two feet from me, take this, and then post it without telling me?
I wait until we’re back on the interstate before I say anything. I hold up my phone and say, “Not going to lie, this is a little weird.”
“Are you mad I posted it?” he asks.
“I don’t understand. We’re in the gas station on the way to the hospital to see my sister and niece. I’m not even looking at the camera. Why did you post it?”
His face darkens. And now I’m second-guessing his motives for driving me down.
“It’s just a picture,” Griffin says. “Don’t make this a bigger deal than it is. God, I don’t know why things can’t just be easy with you.”
“?‘Glad I can be here for my girl’? First, I’m not your girl. We’re broken up. And second, if you were really here for me, you wouldn’t use what’s going on with my family as a stupid caption for your post.”
His hand grips the steering wheel. “This is what I was talking about with Parker. Things are always so serious with you now. You didn’t use to be like this.”
I let his words sink in. I’d thought I’d lost my family and my best friends, and I’d tried too hard to fill that gap with Griffin and the Inspiration Board and everything else that wasn’t what I really wanted. “You know what? You’re right. I didn’t use to be like this. This last week has showed me just how much of myself I lost.”
His face is incredulous. “So it’s my fault you’re boring now?”
I let out a frustrated laugh. “No. That’s on me.”
The truck goes silent, and I think we both know that after this ride, we’re done. I lean my head back against the seat, trying to figure out when my life got so twisted around. And I think about everything Olivia has said to me in the past week—about losing me, about feeling like they’d just gotten me back.
Maybe I wasn’t the only one hurting.
“This is it, isn’t it?” Griffin says eventually.
“Yeah,” I say. “It is.”
When he pulls into the hospital parking lot, he doesn’t even put the truck into park. He hits the unlock button and says, “I hope they get better.”
“Thanks for the ride,” I say, grabbing my bag.
And he’s driving off before I even get to the hospital door.
I make my way through the same corridors, elevators, and escalators as before, but this time I head straight to Margot’s room. I hit a waiting room on the way and stumble right into Mom, Dad, and Brad’s parents. Both of my parents jump to their feet.
“Sophie!” Mom shrieks.
