Chapter 31
Jayce
Friday came far tooquickly, and yet the week seemed to drag on for far too long. Mostly I was worried about Macey, worried that the fatigue and loss of appetite was something much more sinister than she was trying to make it out to be. We wouldn’t know anything until the results were back, of course, so I took Macey’s advice to think less about the results and more about the weekend we would be spending in Michigan. And not just Michigan...
“Detroit,” Macey said as we took our seats in the airport near the loading gate to wait. “My parents live just outside of the city.”
“Isn’t Detroit, like, the most dangerous city in the world?” I asked, munching on an overpriced bag of peanuts bought from the gift shop.
“Something like that,” she confirmed. “But I don’t remember much danger growing up. Melanie and I went to a good school, had good friends, decent teachers. It’s the fear of crime that makes people so afraid of the city.”
“No wonder you are the way you are,” I told her with a gentle smile. “Detroit girl, born and raised.”
“I wear it like a badge of honor,” said Macey, pulling out her cell phone as it began to buzz in her pocket. “It’s my mom,” she said, putting it to her ear. “Hey, Mom.”
“What time will you be in tonight, sweetheart?” her mom asked on the other end of the line. She wasn’t on speakerphone, but I could still hear her well none the less.
“Not until late,” Macey said. “We don’t land until after ten, and then we’re going straight to the hotel.”
“The hotel?” her mother said, voice rising. Macey shot a desperate look at me, and I grimaced. “You’re staying in a hotel? Why?”
I cringed, knowing that Macey hadn’t disclosed those plans since we’d made them a couple of days earlier.
“Jayce and I would like our privacy, Mom. I’m sure you can understand that.” Macey sighed heavily and I reached for her hand, cradling it between mine, knowing that if she were to get through this weekend, she would need my support. “Listen, Mom,” she said. “I’ll text you when we get in tonight, and we’ll stop by the house in the morning once we’re ready for the wedding. Okay? Does that work?”
I didn’t hear what her mom said on the other end of the line this time, but I didn’t care to. I was here for Macey and Macey alone, and I’d do everything in my power to make sure this weekend went as smoothly as possible, just for her.
“Hello, Mrs. Britton!” I called loudly, drawing in stares from passengers waiting to board around us. “I can’t wait to meet you!”
Macey flushed an even deeper shade of red, sinking down in the seat, wrinkling her nose at me. “Yes, Mom,” she said into the phone. “That was Jayce. He says he can’t wait to meet you.” She paused as her mother said something, then her eyes flickered back to me and she whispered, “She says that you should have convinced me to stay at the house with them.”
“Like I can convince you to do anything you don’t want to do,” I said with a laugh, and Macey grinned.
“I gotta go, Mom,” she said into the phone. “We’re going to board soon. I’ll text you tonight. Love you guys. Bye.”
Shaking her head, Macey slipped the phone back into her pocket with a heavy sigh.
“Hey.” I nudged her in the arm, linking my hand with hers. “We can do this, yeah?Youcan do this.”
“It’s going to be so weird,” she breathed. “I only lived in Michigan for two years after Mel died. The house, our friends, her bedroom, our life...everything there reminds me of her. Everything.”
“As it should. She was your twin sister, Macey, and you loved her. But maybe this trip is just what you and your parents need to bury the hatchet, so to speak. She seems to want you there pretty badly. That’s good, right?”
“It’s never good with my mom,” said Macey. “More than likely she only wants me there so she can remind me what a disappointment I am. That’s her favorite thing to do.”
“Fuck her,” I said, loudly enough to draw a few more snarky looks from the people around us. I turned to Macey, forcing her to meet my gaze, and held her lower arms between my hands. “You are perfect,” I said. “And you are wonderful, and beautiful, and funny, and charming—and if your mom can’t see that, fuck her.”
“Yeah,” Macey said, and for the first time all day long she smiled. “Fuck her.”
