I opened the front door quietly, expecting everyone to be fast asleep still. But as I stepped over the threshold, I spotted movement in the kitchen.
“Oh, Mum,” I said, my heart bleeding. Once again, she was crying at the table. I leaned down to hug her. “I know it’s hard, but it’s not like he’ll be gone forever. And we have two weeks before they leave.”
I was saying the words as much for my sake as hers.
“He’s gone,” she sobbed. “My baby has gone.”
I rubbed her shoulder consolingly. “No, he’s going on August third, remember? He’s not gone yet.”
She lifted her head wearily, eyes swollen from crying. “No, sweetheart, he’s gone already. Didn’t he tell you?”
My heart stopped. “What?”
“He and Dominic left last night, quite late.” She dabbed under her eyes with a tissue. “They’ve decided to spend their last two weeks of freedom travelling together.”
Numbness crept over me. No. That wasn’t possible. Dominic had said he wanted us to be together. That this wasn’t the end.
“Not that I can blame them,” Mum continued, unaware of my bleeding heart. “Nothing separates those two, especially when they’ve set their minds to something. I did try and persuade them to wait to speak to you, but they refused.”
I didn’t say anything. I was in shock.
Mum patted my hand. “I imagine it’s a bit of a surprise. The three of you have grown closer recently.”
If only that were true. Max and I had never been further apart than we were now.
Once again, because of Dominic.
I’d been wrong. He would choose Max over me.
He had.
He hadn’t wanted to stay and fight for us. For me. It was just as Max had said—Dominic could say whatever he wanted, but his actions proved how he truly felt.
“I tried to insist you’d be upset, but they said you wouldn’t be,” Mum said. “Seemed pretty adamant about it, actually. Where have you been, anyway? At a girl’s house?”
“They were right,” I said, my voice oddly calm as I ignored her question. “I’m not upset.”
Upset was too big a feeling to deal with. Anger though? That was easier. I let it burn through me, wishing I had an outlet for it.
How could Dominic just…leave? Had everything he’d said last night been a lie? Hadeverythingbetween us been a lie?
That was when I realised I did have an outlet for my anger. I couldn’t yell at Dominic, but I could yell at someone else. Someone who’d hurt him. Whose actions had set this whole fucked-up train in motion.
‘Another few months in that house might kill me.’
Through the haze of anger surrounding me, I was vaguely aware of kissing Mum’s head. Of telling her I’d be back soon.
Then I was out of the house.
And I was running again.
I’d never felt fury like this before. It wasn’t hot. No, it was like ice. Freezing me in this moment, threatening to never let me leave it.
I’d never been to Dominic’s house before. He always came to ours. And I knew why. It wasn’t that he didn’t want me in his space.
It was that he couldn’t stand to be there himself.
I didn’t give a shit about the time now as I hammered on the front door. Didn’t care that I was likely disturbing the neighbours. I knocked and shouted as loud as I could, refusing to stop until the door finally swung open under my fist.
