Since Max came along, my ability to withstand other people’s tears has diminished by one thousand percent. Not that I ever particularly cared for it, but now I just have this inherent need to fix the cause. Except this time, the cause is me, and it’s a problem I’d like to get to the bottom of once and for all.
Her head jerks up at the sound of a stone being kicked, her big, slightly bloodshot, brown eyes flaring as she spots me.
“I’m not in the mood,” she snaps, drawing a sleeve under her nose and then wiping her eyes.
“You’re certainly very irritable since you returned to Valentine Nook,” I remark, working hard to keep my tone even so that my annoyance doesn’t return. “But Idon’t give a shit, Stor.”
“My name is Sophie,” she grits out.
“I haven’t called you Sophie since we were ten.”
She lets out a deep sigh, takes one sniff, and stares right at me. “What are you doing, Hendricks? Why have you followed me?”
“Why d’you think?”
“I have no idea what you do or don’t do, Hendricks. Or the reasons behind your actions. I never have.”
Her gaze is still locked onto mine, jaw working side to side. My mind spins with every conversation I’ve had with myself, every conclusion I came up with as to why she left, and it all boils down to the day I found out Sienna was pregnant. Miles calls it jealousy, and maybe he’s right, but I never believed it was as simple as that.
One thing neither of us has ever been able to wrap our heads around is how she vanished with no explanation. Especially me. I might have fucked things up to begin with, but she fucked things up worse. I’d just found out my life was about to drastically change and she left me.
I’d needed my best friend.
Cutting me out the way she did was nothing short of callous. It would have been easier to deal with if she’d died.
My heart never fully mended.
“Well, that makes two of us.” I cross my arms over my chest. “Why are you crying?”
“Because I wish I’d never come back. I wish I’d never agreed to stay and help. I wish I’d never taken that job. I wish . . .”
She catches herself before the words leave hermouth, but I know what they are. She wishes she’d never seen me.
I can’t deny that it doesn’t hurt. It does. Not quite reaching into my chest and ripping my heart out, like she’d done before, but close.
And really, how dare she? Does she think she’s sparing my feelings after what she put me through?
“Don’t feel you have to stop on my account. Please, do continue.”
Her jaw juts and clenches, then her shoulders drop. “It just would have been easier, that’s all. We both know it.”
“I know nothing, clearly, so feel free to enlighten me. What would have been easier, Story? Come on, use your words.” I know I’m taunting her, but I don’t care.
She throws her arms up. “Not knowing how you are. Not seeing how your life is. Not . . .”
Her eyes drop, and everything she wants to say but hasn’t is left hanging in the air, along with her wrong conclusion about Birgitta. I know that’s what she’s thinking because she’s practically snarling at me now.
If it wasn’t so sad, it would be funny.
Miles always believed Story was in love with me, but I’ve never had his confidence. Moving our relationship out of anything other than friendship proved harder than it sounds. Believe me, I tried.
I only know howIfelt back then. How I feel now. That after six years, seeing her can still add an extrathud thud thudto my heartbeat. But even the dance against my rib cage isn’t enough to make me forget the pain.
My life changed in more ways than one on that day.
“You’re pissed at me? No, Story, you don’t get to bepissed at me. You don’t get to vanish for six years with no explanation and act like it’s not okay that I have a life.”
“I’M PISSED AT ME.”
