Laney
I PERMIT THEtears to fall only after the truck disappears.
When it’s safe. When I know Kam will never see them. I clean up the kitchen, pack our stuff, and lock up the house. I’m completely numb. I will never forget the distraught look on Kam’s face before he stormed out.I trusted you.Those words are like a butcher knife hacking me apart. I never meant to hurt him. I never meant for him to feel like he couldn’t trust me. But what I said was true. He has his life and I have mine. He’s slated to go to Seattle, and I’m moving to New York. How would we ever make that work?
I knew the inevitable would happen; I just didn’t think it would be so soon.
Without even thinking, I drive to the one place I know I’ll find solace.
“Sugar pie.” My father beams when he sees me walk through the front door of his diner. “What are you doing here?” He put his arms around me, and I surrender in his embrace, fighting back tears.
“I was with Kam . . . at the cabin.”
“Oh?” His face perks up.
“With the allegations and media hounding him, he needed to get away. So, we went to his father’s cabin. To hide out.”
“I see.” My father eyes me speculatively. “I didn’t realize you and Kam weresocializingagain.”
I turn red. What can I say? Don’t worry; nothing happened? We’d both know that’d be a lie.
“We werereconnecting.” I clear my throat.
“It doesn’t look like it went so well.”
“It was going fine untilSam the Magic Manshowed up,” I say spitefully. “And reality came crashing down on us.”
“Yeah. It does have a habit of doing that.” His southern twang surfaces with a vengeance. “Where is Kam now?”
“At a press conference. Sam set it up at the high school.”
“Why didn’t you go?” He walks me over to the counter and urges me to sit down on one of the stools.
“I figured he’d be surrounded by enough people. His adoring fans, the press,Sam.”
“Ah, Sam, your favorite person in the whole world.”
“Most favorite,” I respond sarcastically. Kam was right—I do like Sam as much as I like sweet tea.
“Well, what are you gonna do?”
“About what?”
“About Kam.”
“What’s there to do? You don’t give up everything you worked toward for some guy. All your hopes, all your dreams.”
“You’re right. Some guy? No. Kam, maybe.”
“Dad.” My jaw drops. Is he being serious? He knows what I had to go through to get that internship. How unbelievably hard I had to work. Architecture is a highly competitive business. If you don’t get in with the right firm, you might as well give up before you even start if you want any kind of a halfway-decent career.
“Laney, look.” He puts his hands up in surrender. “I’m not trying to tell you not to go after your dreams, or give up who you are. I’m the last person who would ever suggest that. But, in hindsight, I realize your mother and I made a lot of bad decisions. We worked against each other instead of with each other. Maybe you and Kam just need to find a happy medium.”
“I don’t think that exists unless I go where he goes.”
“Would that be such a bad thing?”
“Possibly.” I chew my lip. “I don’t want to lose myself because of his career. I don’t want to feel like I’m always second.”
