“There’s nothing to talk about, Jason. I think it’s for the best if we end things now,” she said, not quite able to meet his gaze as she broke his heart.
“You’re just mad, Haley. Maybe...maybe you’re right. Maybe you just need a week to think things over,” Jason said quickly, desperate to do or say anything that would make her take it back. “Take a week, think it over. We both knew that I was going to fuck up at some point, my little grasshopper. After you think about it, you’ll realize that’s all it was. Then you’ll come back, I’ll grovel, and we’ll move past this.”
She couldn’t even look at him as she said, “I’m really sorry, Jason.”
Jason couldn’t move, could hardly breathe as Haley stood up on her toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I’m sorry, Jason. We’ll always be friends,” she said, delivering the killing blow.
Chapter 22
Haley just barely stopped herself from looking for Jason when she stepped back outside and realized that he wasn’t waiting for her. It was for the best, she told herself as she threw her small backpack in the trunk. She closed it and slowly walked to the driver’s side door, hoping to catch one last glimpse of him.
Even though she’d told herself that they didn’t have a future, she couldn’t help feeling disappointed. He’d given her up so easily. Maybe it was a good thing that this was over, she told herself. If he was able to give her up so easily, then he really didn’t care about her and it was for the best that she found out now.
At least that’s what she tried to tell herself over the next three hours while she drove even as she kept checking to make sure her phone still worked only to end up stopping herself from calling him. She just wanted to hear his voice and…
Why did it have to hurt this much?
All she wanted to do was pull the car over and curl up in a ball and cry, but she wouldn’t allow herself to do that, not yet. When she arrived at the cottage, then she’d allow herself to finally break down where she wouldn’t have to worry about having to pretend that everything was okay and that this was for the best. Then…
Then, she had absolutely no idea what she was going to do.
She’d promised him that they would always be friends, but she really didn’t think that she would be able to see him after this. She wouldn’t be able to fall asleep in her bed, knowing just how good it felt to have his arms around her and that he was only a few feet away. She wouldn’t be able to handle seeing him every day, knowing that she couldn’t be with him, and she definitely wouldn’t be able to handle seeing him with someone else.
She’d figure out what to do about work and her house later. Not that she had many options. It would take some time before she was able to sell her house, which meant that she was either going to have to hope that she was able to find someone to rent her house until then because staying in that house wasn’t an option. Work was a different story. She wasn’t sure that she’d be able to find another position that paid this well at another private school. Until she figured it out, she would have to ask to have her classroom moved and hope for the best.
Thankfully, her stomach chose that moment to remind her that she hadn’t eaten anything since last night and gave her the distraction that she needed. She took the next exit off the highway and considered her fast food options. Ten minutes later, she was back on the highway and frowning down at her purchase, an extra-large orange juice, three coffee rolls, two muffins, and three apple pastries.
“Great, he’s got me trained,” Haley mumbled with a sad shake of her head.
She was going to have to break herself of this habit of ordering for a small army or she was going to get really fat, Haley realized with a sigh. She picked up one of the coffee rolls and took a small bite before putting it down and taking a sip of juice. When a song that reminded her of Jason came on, she groaned, muttered pathetically and spent the next minute looking for a song that wasn’t going to make her cry. When she finally found one, she picked up her coffee roll and frowned at the half-eaten baked item.
Apparently, she’d eaten more than she’d thought. Sighing, she took another bite and placed it back on the passenger seat so that she could grab her orange juice and…
“What the hell?” Haley murmured, frowning down at the half-empty bottle.
Worrying her bottom lip, she glanced down at the passenger seat and couldn’t help but wonder what happened to all the food she’d bought. She was starting to wonder if she was going crazy when a large tan hand suddenly appeared, scaring the hell out of her. She squealed, jerking the wheel to the right and almost crashed into a tow truck. It took her a few seconds before her brain started functioning again and when it did, she narrowed her eyes on the hand that was blindly searching for the orange juice.
Glaring, she reached down and pinched the back of the hand, hard.
“Ow!”
Haley stole a quick glance back at the backseat and cursed. Somehow, Jason had managed to fold his large frame onto the floor of her midsize car and covered himself with the large towel that she kept back there without her noticing.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Jason sighed heavily as he tossed the towel away and struggled to climb off the floor. Once he was comfortably seated, he reached over and helped himself to her orange juice. “Having breakfast.” He took a sip. “What does it look like?”
“Why are you in my car?” Haley demanded.
“How else do you expect us to finish our fight?” Jason asked, leaning forward to snag the last apple pastry. He took a big bite before holding it to her lips for her to do the same.
She shoved his hand away. “What the hell do you mean to finish our fight? We broke up,” she said, trying to remain calm.
“No, we didn’t.”
“Yes, we did.”
“I don’t think so,” he said calmly, finishing off the rest of the pastry as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
