“Yeah, okay.” I snort.
“No, listen. You help people all the time.”
“You’re exaggerating.”
“I’m not,” Cole insists. “You have talked Earl out of at least five panic attacks this month. You drove Juniper to the hospital every day when Eliotwas in surgery. You bought that gym equipment for the youth center anonymously.”
A lump forms in my throat.
“This town leans on you,” he concludes.
I open my mouth to argue and realize I don’t have a counterpoint.
Then Noah pads into the kitchen, demanding cherry tomatoes. He clambers onto the stool beside me and plunks his beloved T-Rex into my lap.
I blink down at it.
“You’re letting me hold Rex?”
He nods solemnly, his big eyes searching mine.
“You look sad.”
My chest twists.
This toy is sacred to him, the center of his four-year-old universe, and he’s trusting it to me.
I hold the dinosaur while Noah snacks on tomatoes. Then he narrows his eyes and snatches it back.
“You can’t hold him forever,” he warns.
“Fair enough.” I ruffle his hair. “Thank you, Noah. I already feel better.”
CHAPTER 16 – ANTONIO
I spent last night in the depths of despair. Ryan is back. That meanseverything is back. Not just the memories, but the self-doubt too.
I can’t shake the idea that I deserved the bullying. Even the principal told me I should stop “provoking” Ryan.
I was so confused.
All I wanted was for Ryan to leave me alone, but what if the principal was right? What if Ryan’s daily taunts, the various ways he kept hurting me, were reactions to my existence?
I sigh, tie my apron, and get ready for my shift.
“Gotta run an errand,” Maria says, already at the door. “Fifteen minutes max.”
“It’s the lunch hour lull. I’ll manage.”
Famous last words.
I pick up two carbonaras for table three. I’m threading between tables four and five when the bell over the door jingles.
I look up automatically.
This time, I nearly drop the plates.
Caspian Stone just stepped in.
