Chapter six
HEADSTONE
“Listentome,”Scottcontinues, somehow still not done yet. “We flew out here, just fine. Nothing happened to us. Nothing bad is going to happen to any of us because of you. And you going on this trip? Nothing bad is going to happen there either. Except maybe that you can start to feel better so that you can be a real part of our lives again, not just missed calls and only seeing you when we force ourselves on you.”
The room and this relationship have become claustrophobic. I stand up from the chair and throw my napkin down on the table. “Maybe I don’t want to be part of your lives again.”
Scott shakes his head, defiantly. “You don’t mean that.”
I walk towards the door.
“Drew, stop,” Scott calls out.
But I can’t stop; not now that it’s clear nothing is going to change between us, and that I have officially lost Monika and Gabe to this argument too.
I push harder than necessary against the door of the Book Cellar, but the cool breeze outside momentarily clears my head enough for me to call back over my shoulder, “Monika, give me your keys so I can get into the bookstore.”
“No,” Scott warns, holding out a hand in her direction. “Stay there, Monika. No one leaves until we figure this out.”
I’ve heard more than enough, so I counter his instruction with my own. “Monika, you can either let me into the bookstore right now, or I swear that I will find a way to get in there myself.”
Scott calls my bluff, not believing that I would actually do something reckless to get myself into the bookstore, and Monika stays still as a stone, watching our war of wills. I give them both a curt nod and then let the door close in Scott’s face to continue down the short pathway between the storefronts.
“Drew, wait,” he says, as he bursts through the door behind me to catch up. “Will you at least let me tell you our news before you leave?”
“No, because I don’t care,” I lie.
“We finally matched,” Scott says anyway. “The baby is due any day.”
The fact that they matched is not a shock to me. I figured as much when he chased me outside to tell me the news. I did not expect the due date to be so soon, though, and that detail lands like a punch to the gut. If I had just picked up the phone or listened to any of his voicemails this past year, I probably could have been in on that information from the beginning.
“Congratulations,” I say over my shoulder as I reach the Book & Barreland tug hard on the door. It’s locked, like I figured it would be, but I want to be sure before I move on to the next step.
“So, that’s it?” he asks, incredulously. “We come all this way to tell you that you are about to be an aunt, and your response iscongratulations?”
I ignore him and continue towards the nearest planter. He follows and stops an inch behind me to hover.
“What will it take for you to be in our lives again? For you to believe us when we say that we aren’t afraid of your so-called curse? We came here today specifically to try and prove it to you.”
I pick up a few smaller rocks to weigh in my hands but drop them when I spot a bigger one with sharp edges tucked into the bushes.
“And look!” he continues behind me. “Nothing bad has happened to us, except for this argument. Gabe and I are completely safe, and so is Monika, other than being a little shell-shocked right now, because the truth is that being near you does not cause bad things to happen.”
I cringe at his recklessness as I stand up with the perfect rock. “You are tempting fate by making such bold statements when the night is still young.”
He lets out an exasperated sigh. “God, Sis. You are so—Wait. What are you doing?”
“Getting into the building,” I say, and march past him, even as my resolve starts to crumble when I think about the cost of replacing the glass door after I shatter it. I would have to pay for the damage out of my paycheck, which would be a major setback.
Knowing Scott, he would insist on paying for it out of sympathy. The thought makes me even angrier, but I pause just long enough to consider ditching the rock to try and scream Monika’s name at the top of my lungs instead, until she agrees to open the door for me.
In that brief second of contemplation, a car with loud music playing drives by, and I think maybe I’d just be better off running over to it to beg for a ride home. I’d need to leave the rock here before asking for a ride, though. Otherwise, I might betaken away from here in a completely different type of car, one topped with lights and sirens.
Scott misreads my hesitation as an opening and continues with his plea. “We love you, Drew. We want you in our lives, bad luck or not.” He reaches out to grab me to prove his point.
It’s interesting to hear him pivot from insisting that I am not bad luck to saying that he wants me in his life regardless. It clues me in to just how desperate he is in this moment. He manages to get a hold of my wrist, and I try to wrench my arm free, but he just tightens his grip.
“Let go of me.”
