“Cody just give you hell?”
“Yeah,” I mutter. His blue eyes catch mine and he takes a few steps inwards.
“Don’t be upset. He’s just pissed off his other spot sucked too.”
I turn back to the sink. “Right.”
I don’t care if the morning sucked, he can’t act like it’s all my fault. I didn’t know the right way to scout, I guess, and neither did Ella. They should’ve specified, made sure we knew what we were doing. That’s on him; this is why I stay in the kitchen.
I hear Jesse’s footsteps fade out of the room, the front door opening and then shutting behind him.
Next thing I hear is Cody’s voice cutting through the room.
“Addison,” he says, his tone different than just a little whileago. Calm, collected, and steady.
I don’t turn around. Instead, I scrub the cutting board harder with the sponge. “What,” I state.
“Can we talk?”
“No.”
“I want to apologize.”
He wants to apologize? That’s a new one. I rinse the cutting board before I dry my hands off and turn around to face him. His expression is muted. Definitely not what it was just an hour ago.
“Okay.” I cross my arms.
“I’m sorry for yelling. I should’ve clarified what scouting meant. I thought you knew.”
“I didn’t think the number mattered.”
“It does.”
“No crap.”
He laughs to himself. “Well, now you know. Okay?”
“Mm-hmm.”
He clears his throat and hesitates before stepping closer but follows through. His tattooed arm wraps around my neck and gives me a quick tight squeeze.
“I love you, and I’m sorry,” he says, pressing a brotherly kiss to my head. And just like that, the cloud that was hanging over me disappears.
Chapter 14
Wesley
I spent most of the church service with my head hung low, my elbows digging into my legs. Pastor Charlie’s sermon was hitting me harder than normal. I couldn’t tell you the last time I felt this spoken to.
It’s been three weeks since Addison and I spoke. I’m not blaming her…I need to be the first to admit I was wrong with what I said. I’m not stubborn in that sense. I’m…scared. I hate admitting that. I’m usually not scared of anything, but losing her even more than I already have has me so frozen that I’m afraid I’ll completely shatter if she refuses to forgive me.
Pastor Charlie is teaching from Colossians 3, verses 12 and 13 ringing in my ears on a loop.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
To make it weigh even heavier in my chest, we also discuss it in Sunday school. Addison and I sit across the table from each other. She won’t look at me but I can tell she wants to.The way her eyes look up but find someone else to settle on instead seems forced.
Last week she left as quickly as she could. But this time, I’ve had enough. I follow her wavy brown hair all the way out to the parking lot.
