“I’m sorry,” I said again. “About not going to the piano recital with you.”
Her head whipped over to me. “What?”
I took a deep breath. Why did I shut people out so much?I needed to be more open. Talk. Let her in. She’d long since proven she belonged in my life.
“My dad played the violin. Plays. Of course, you know that,” I said, shaking my head.
“Yes.”
“I had watched so many concerts. He had left out of nowhere… I was devastated. I didn’t know if I could go watch another concert. Be there on that stage with you when the last stage I’d been on was his. I know I blamed it on my mom, and shehadrecruited me in her angry cleaning. She was on one that day.” I let out a breathy laugh. “Every day. But I could’ve left. I mean, I should’ve left, gone with you.”
“I thought you were embarrassed, didn’t like all the attention on you.”
“I didn’t. I don’t. But it was about my dad.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“I know. I don’t know that I fully knew that either at the time. I was always pretty private, suppressed a lot of things. Especially about my parents. But you were always a good friend. Made me feel light. Made me feel better. I’m sorry I couldn’t do that for you that day.”
She pulled me into a hug. “Thanks for saying that. It means a lot.”
I nodded against her cheek. “I’m sorry you gave up piano because of me.”
She wiped at her eyes as she pulled away. “No, Sutton, what? I didn’t. It wasn’t because of you. That was just the last straw. I’d never wanted to do it. I hope you haven’t been feeling guilty about that all this time.”
“Guilt is one of my main food groups.”
She smiled. “I fear it’s one of mine too.”
“We need to work on that.”
“I agree.” She sighed. “Enough about that. How was your weekend with Elijah?”
“Good. Really good. Then we came home and it blew up.”
“It did?”
“He didn’t want to tell you about how Michael lied and I did. It was a whole thing.”
“Don’t call it off over our problems.”
“It’s more than that. I overheard Michael say that Elijah thinks I was just a short-term thing and that I have daddy issues.”
“Elijah thinksyouhave daddy issues? That’s pretty ironic coming from him, thekingof daddy issues.”
“Yeah. I mean, he’s not wrong. I do. But still, he didn’t need to tell the world.”
She laughed.
“And he was defending everyone else in this situation except me. Michael, Fake Dr. Franklin.” I sighed and slumped against the back of the chair.
She did the same. Our hands were linked. “That sucks.”
“Yeah,” I said.
“Out of curiosity,” she said, “before all this, didyousee Elijah as more than a short-term thing? I figured since he was here and can’t really leave anytime soon and you’re nearly out the door, that it would be over.”
“I wasn’t surehowI was going to keep Elijah in my life. But I wanted to. I’d decided that on our trip.”
