My brow puckers. “I already got the truth, and I have zero desire to hear him repeat that sordid shit.”
“He lied, Elisa.”
“That’s a likely excuse.” I harrumph as I kick my legs up on the footstool under the desk. “More like he couldn’t think of a plausible lie on the spot.”
“He’s an idiot, but I think you should hear him out.”
“I am doing no such thing. I have drawn my line in the sand, and I’m not regressing. Caleb is dead to me. He is in the past, and that’s where I’m leaving him.”
“You know I don’t?—”
I tune her out as Mom pokes her head in the door, wearing a bright smile. “Caleb is here. He says he needs to speak to you urgently.”
“He’s here. I need to go,” I say into the phone. “I’ll call you when I get back to the city tomorrow.” I hang up on my bestie and stand, thrusting my shoulders back and leveling Mom with a serious expression. “Tell him to leave. I don’t care what he wants to say. I don’t want to hear it.”
Her face pales. “Are you sure, sweetie? He seems desperate to talk to you.”
“What is with you and Gia suddenly taking his side?” I plant my hands on my hip and steady my resolve.
“We are always on your side. I’ll do whatever you want, but he seems frantic and eager to make amends.”
“Mom, I told you what he did. I can’t look at him anymore. It doesn’t matter what he has to say. There is nothing he can do to take it back.” Hurt stabs me in the chest, and I avert my eyes, blinking back tears. I promised myself this morning I was done crying over Caleb, and I meant it. “Tell him to go, please. I don’t want to see him or speak to him.”
Silently, she envelops me in her arms, hugging me close. “If that’s what you want.”
“It is.”
She kisses the top of my head. “Okay, I’ll make him leave.”
After she’s gone, I lean my head back against the wall and bolster the steel walls I’ve erected around my heart. I don’t believe he lied to me. Caleb is trying to cover his tracks, so I don’t cut him completely from my life, but it’s too late.
He has hurt me for the last time.
I’m done with him.
“Lili!” His deep voice hollers dangerously close to this room, and I quietly and quickly shut the door.
What the hell, Mom? I thought you were throwing him out?My entire body tenses at his voice, and I want him to leave me alone.
“Lili, please, just give me five minutes!” he shouts. “I’ll get on my knees. I’ll beg. Please just let me explain.”
I hear Dad’s voice, talking in muffled tones, and I can’t pick up what’s being said. Sounds of a commotion in the hallway outside the room have me widening my eyes.What on earth is going on?
“I’m not giving up, Elisa!” Caleb shouts, his voice beginning to fade. “I’m going to make it up to you, Lili. I swear.”
It’s quiet then, for a few minutes, until the sound of tires kicking up gravel outside. Slowly, the tension eases from my rigid limbs. Until Mom and Dad start arguing again. They’re too far away to hear what’s being said, but they appear to be really going for it.
The door flies open, and Aria bursts into the room, weighted down with blankets and the saddest eyes. “They’re doing it again.”
I take the blankets from her and pull her into an embrace. “It’s going to be okay.” Smoothing a hand down her hair, I hope I haven’t just lied to her.
“What is going on with you and Dad?” I ask Mom the following morning when I enter the kitchen to find her alone.
“Ask your father,” she says, her lips pulling into a grim line.
I gulp over the ball of nerves clogging my throat. Romeo said Mom spent all last night with Sierra and Natalia and she slept in one of the guest bedrooms. Despite my reassurances to Aria, I’m growing concerned. “Are you getting divorced?” I ask, hating toeven contemplate that scenario. It’s not something I have ever had to worry about with Mom and Alesso, but they have been fighting like cats and dogs for two days, and I’m sufficiently worried.
Her eyes startle. “What? No.” She vigorously shakes her head. “Of course not. This isn’t about our relationship. It’s just a disagreement.”
