Skye’s figure pops up out of nowhere next to me. She’s sporting blue jeans and a white top with the lettering “I’m just a girl” written across it in red.
All she has to do is breathe and my shoulders tighten.
I’ve seen her for months. Gotten familiar with the way she fades in and out of a room. Even the looks she gives that switches up in a moment’s notice.
Each facial expression and half-baked sentences are ciphers waiting to be decoded, making all my senses agitated.
“Where were you an hour ago?” I snap.
“Miss, is everything okay back there?” The driver immediately answers.
Her hand lands on top of mine, making me jump in place as she shows herself. I am only able to see her as she has completely gone mute.
“Yes sir, just talking on my Bluetooth. Phone call with my mom. Sorry.”
“It’s fine, ma’am. Glad everything is okay.”
“Put your headphones in” Skye reminds me. I press the earbuds into my ears as she continues.
“You were doing just fine. If I might add, I am proud of you,” Skye whispers.
It’s a definitive statement. One that I should be happy to hear from the ghost haunting me. Instead, my eyes drift to the car window, fixated on the palm trees breezing past us.
The last four years crash like a progressively sad montage. Every laugh. Every kiss. The lingering touches that imprinted my past. Careless with each other from the start.
“Call him,” she cuts through.
“Who?” I say, moving my attention back to her.
“Holden! Who do you think?”
Before I can try to open my mouth to argue, a thousand tiny fire ants bite at my chest.
“Okay, okay…” I whisper, watching her gaze flicker between the phone in my lap and my face. I unlock my phone and scroll for the letter “H” in my contact list.
I mouth the words, “Happy now?” to her as the ringing starts.
“Hello?” he says once the call connects. It takes me a few moments before I am able to utter a word. It isn’t till the second, “Is anyone there?” from him that I start rambling.
“I am so sorry. Something came up. I am heading there right now. My ETA says ten minutes.”
“I hope everything is okay?”
On the verge of more tears, I say, “Of course. Be there soon.” I try my hardest to pitch my voice higher.
“Char—”
Before I can let myself cry again, I disconnect the call, anxiously watching the dot move closer and further down the map to the pinned location.
When we finally get to the location, I burst out of the car, practically leaping as the driver pulls up to the entrance of the bistro. My phone is vibrating nonstop.
Lena:I need an ETA, now.
On the verge of responding to her text, I’m halted by a human wall blocking me from moving forward. A barrier that sends me boomeranging back to the car door I just leaped out of.
“What the—”
“Charlotte. We have been waiting for you.”
