“Oh, I’m going to be a criminal attorney, hopefully. I still have a little way to go, but I love it so far. How’s the music thing working out, Tate?”
Tate tenses up.
“It’s good.”
“She’s actually going to start posting on social media. You know, gain more traction.”
“Really? You’ll have to let me know when you do. I’d love to follow you.”
“Thanks, Casey, I will.”
Tate looks over at me, raising her eyebrows as if to tell me we better get a move on it.
“It was really great to see you, but we've got to finish shopping and get home to prepare for tomorrow,” I begin. “Maybe we’ll see you around.”
“Sure.” She grins. “Here, let me give you my number, and maybe we can all meet up before you guys head back.”
“It’s a pretty quick trip, so I don’t know if we’ll be able to swing it.” Tate crosses her arms.
She’s not wrong about the trip being short, and the chances of us being able to meet with Casey before we leave are slim, but I accept her phone number anyway.
“Merry Christmas, guys.” Casey squeezes my shoulder before she disappears. Tate’s eyes follow her until she’s gone.
“What are the odds of running into Casey?” I ask.
“I don’t know. Can we finish up? You know how my mom gets when I’m late.”
“Sure.”
“Thanks.” She gives me a small smile, scratching the back of her head. “Let's get going.”
seventeen
Tate
Ithought seeing my family this week would be the worst part of the break, but it turns out Casey Hill is. I haven’t stopped thinking about running into her since it happened, and I think Fletcher felt the awkwardness the whole way to my house.
“Am I coming in with you?” He looks at me as he turns off the car. This time, he parks in his own driveway since not everyone is here for Christmas.
“No, it’s okay. You’ll have to see them tomorrow; you don’t need to suffer right now, too.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.” I rub my hands on my jeans, but I still feel his eyes on me. “What?”
“Are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I don’t know, you’ve just seemed off since we ran into Casey at Jewel.”
“Do you think she was acting kind of passive toward me?” Part of me didn’t know if I even wanted to ask the question, but when she brought up my music, I don’t know, it seemed kind of condescending.
“No.” He shakes his head. “What do you mean? I thought she was nice. She just asked how the music was going.”
“She asked me how themusic thingwas working out.”
“And?”
