To Knock or Not
Tessa
I stood on Maisie's front porch, staring at the door, wondering if I should knock. Over the past few days, I'd been in and out several times, grabbing clothes and leaving the occasional note so she wouldn't worry, assuming she would at all.
My last note had said,Be back soon.But now, standing on her porch, I couldn't help but wonder whether she had considered the message a promise or a warning.
If we were still friends, I'd call it a promise.
And if we weren't? Well, that's where the warning came in. I could almost see her now, looking at the note and frowning, like she was wondering when I'd simply move on.
I was still standing there when the door flung open, and there Maisie was, looking happy to see me. "Oh, my God. You're back!"
The knot in my stomach finally eased. "Uh…yeah."
She stepped aside, making room for me to come in. "So, where were you?"
If only I could say.But forget where I'd been. I just wanted to focus on where I was now.
With a friend.
With a tentative smile, I replied, "Oh, just here and there." But of course, this barely scratched the surface. I'd spent two nights sleeping in Ryder's arms and a third sleeping in Skip's recliner. Neither had ended well.
Maisie's face fell for the briefest moment before the smile returned. "Anyway, I'm really glad you're home."
Home.
Until this moment, it hadn't really felt that way. But it did now – and even more so when I closed the door behind us, and Maisie threw her arms around me, saying with a choked little sound, "I'm sorry I was so weird the other day. I don't know what got into me."
And just like that, I didn't feel quite so alone. My breath hitched as I told her, "Me, too. I'msosorry I overreacted."
When we pulled back, Maisie said with a fragile smile, "You know…the house wasn't the same without you."
Her words were a balm to my aching heart, but that didn't stop me from noticing what I'd missed before – lingering redness in her eyes, like she'd been crying. Softly, I said, "Hey, is something wrong?"
She shook her head. "Nah…I mean, I don't want to pounce on you the moment you walk in the door."
It was sweet and so typically Maisie that something warm settled in my chest. The truth was, Iwantedto be pounced on. I wanted to listen, to let her pour out her troubles, and – if she wanted – break out those tiny bottles.
What Ididn'twant was to talk about myself.
Ryder and I were officially done. And since we'd kept everything secret, there was no practical downside to pretending the whole thing had never happened.
But that didn't mean there was no downside at all.
Honestly, it would've been really nice to throw myself into Maisie's arms and sob against her shoulder. But for all kinds of reasons, including the connection to Delaney, keeping it to myself seemed the only smart move.
So I settled on the next best thing – being there for Maisie like she surely would've been for me.
After some serious girl-talk, Maisie headed out the door, looking for answers from Griff. But what she found instead was just another mystery, one that took her by surprise.
On the phone, her voice quavered as she said, "Do you want to come out and see for yourself? Please? I mean…I could really use a second opinion here."
I didn't hesitate. "Hang on. I'll be there in five minutes."
In the end, this wasn't quite true. It took me at least fifteen, not because I dawdled, but because I was intercepted along the way.
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