I reach her and grab her hand before she gets the front door open. “Phoebe, wait. Please just—”
“Just what, Spencer?! Lie to me again about how you don’t want Piper? How could I be so stupid! Again!” She yanks her hand out of my grip and crosses her arms across her body. “I don’t have time for this shit, Spence. I really don’t. If you want to be with her so badly, then be with her. But please,” she takes a deep breath before she continues, and I wish I could just tell her everything. The whole truth. “Please, just stop toying with me,” her voice cracks and all I want to do is grab her and hold her. But she’s right. I can’t pursue this until I can give her the entire story, and I can’t do that without betraying Piper.
What a mess I’ve gotten myself into.
The front door opens behind her, and she wipes away the tears that have trailed down her face before turning to see who it is.
Of course, because for whatever reason I can’t seem to catch a break, it’s Kevin.
“Oh, Kevin,” she gives him a strained smile, then her eyes flashes to mine. “What are you still doing here?”
It’s not late, but I don’t understand why he’d hang around with Phoebe’s family for two hours while we were on our date. Was it a date? Am I even allowed to call it that considering how horribly it ended?
“I was waiting on you to get back so we could talk,” he says while he looks me up and down. I swear his chest puffs out a little bit before he turns his attention back to Phoebe. “Can we talk? Please?”
Phoebe gnaws on her lower lip for a moment, then shakes her head yes to him. “Let’s go talk somewhere warm. Hot chocolate sounds really good right now,” she says to him. Kevin’s face lights up as he takes her arm and leads her to his car parked on the street. She turns towards me, but doesn’t meet my gaze. “See you tomorrow for the next task, Spencer.”
I just stand there with my mouth gaping open and closed like a fish, the apology I owe her caught in my throat as I watch them walk towards Kevin’s fancy BMW.
“By the way, Kevin. Spencer and I aren’t dating. We were just messing around, but there’s nothing going on between us. Never has been, never will be,” Phoebe exclaims loudly.
I’m speechless as Kevin whips his smug looking face my way. “Thanks for filling me in,babe.” He opens the car door for her and I can’t do a thing but watch them drive away into the snowy night.
I feel as though I single handedly helped Kevin get another shot at Phoebe. With the way I treated her I can’t even blame her if she falls right back into his arms. I’ll have no one to blame but myself.
My plan was to wake up early enough to get a run in and then go and pick up some type of pastries from Adelene’s Bakery again. But that plan went down the drain as soon as I opened my eyes and checked my phone and saw that it was already 9:30 AM. I’m supposed to be at the Andrews house by 10:00 AM for the next task.
No, no, no. I can’t be late, especially after the way I left things with Phoebe, and the disastrous ending to our “date”. I jump out of bed and rush into the bathroom, brushing my teeth and tossing deodorant on as quickly as I can. Running into my closet, I toss on the first pieces of clothes that I find; a pair of gray sweatpants and an old Braves sweatshirt that my grandpa gave me years ago.
By 9:45 I’m in my truck and rushing down the highway as safely as I can in the snow, trying like hell to get to the house before they eliminate me from this next task. Even if I’m out of this one, I’ll still find a way to get Phoebe the upperhand. I’m glad that Nana didn’t tell our parents that I went and bought 100 gingerbread cookies during Phoebe’s break and donated them to all the volunteers. I couldn’t let Kevin be the reason why she won yesterday's task…even if that makes me feel like a slimeball.
Seventeen minutes later I’m pulling onto the street. I throw my truck in park and rush across the street, but before I make it to the driveway, I see Phoebe running up the sidewalk with what looks like several large canisters of coffee.
She sees me and stops in her tracks, before picking up the pace again and running up the stairs to the front door. I’m right behind her when she slips and I catch her under her arms and keep her upright. She scoffs at me and shrugs me off and then runs through the door. I follow her inside and close the door softly behind me.
I’m greeted with Little E wrapping himself in between my legs and I reach down to pick him up to give him some love. He’s wearing a bright blue sweater today with little white snowflakes. Maybe if I walk in and everyone sees that Little E still loves me, I won’t get eliminated from this round. I’m only 7 minutes late, but I hear everyone “ooooohhhing” Phoebe, like we are children and late from recess.
I carry the cat with me into the dining room, and everyone is already smirking at me. They know that two of us have just gotten eliminated from this round, and that gives them a better chance to win today.
I take a seat, and look around the room sheepishly. My parents didn’t make it over today because Mom had a volunteer shift at the market, but everyone else is here. To my dismay, Kevin is also here. He is up helping Phoebe carry in coffee mugs for everyone, and the cocky grin he shoots me when he extends a cup to me makes me see red.
He’s just itching to get punched this morning, but I’ll behave. I take the mug and tell him thank you with the friendliest smile I can muster on this crap of a morning.
Mr. Andrews comes in a few minutes later wearing yet another sweater that matches Little E’s, and the room is already silent as we drink our hot coffee. “Okay so, y’all know the rules,” he nods to Phoebe and I, and she outwardly cringes. “You two were late, so you’re eliminated from this task. Sorry, but them's the rules.”
Okay I expected that. It’s only fair to hold us accountable, even if I want to throw a fit over the fact that Phoebe was only late because she was bringing everyone coffee.
“Dad,” Piper says while looking strangely nervous. Very un-Piper-like, and I’m curious to hear what she has to say. “Phoebe was only late because I begged her to go get coffee, because the coffee pot stopped working this morning.” She winks at her sister and continues. “And you know I’m all out of sorts with this time change after flying from Germany to be here.”
Mr. Andrews narrows his eyes at her, and then gives Phoebe the same ‘I’m not falling for your bullshit’ look.
Phillip adds in, “Yeah and it’s not really fair to punish Phoebe for doing us all a solid, right? I mean, she didn’t have to bring you coffee either.”
Austin remains quiet next to Phil, but he nods his head in agreement.
I glance across at Phoebe and her face is as pale as the snow blanketing the whole town. She’s gnawing at her bottom lip again, and tugging nervously at her fingers. How can I fix this?
“Also,” I chime in with the rest of the group. “Phoebe was only late because I took the last open parking spot on the street. She had to park way down by the stop sign. I watched her jog all the way up the street with both canisters of coffee. It’s my fault she was late, and I’ll take the blame.” Everyone at the table is staring at me now, so I keep going. “I’ll sit this task out, and the next one. Just don’t punish her for trying to do a nice thing for all of us.”
