“No, but it’s okay. I think he’s just really busy getting everything ready to leave,” I say, and a crease forms between her brows.
“I’m sorry, Kait,” she says, and I lift my shoulders in a shrug because it’s not her fault.
“Don’t be,” I reassure her, but I’m not sure how muchHunter told her about the circumstances surrounding the breakup.
“Speaking from experience, I like to think that everything works out the way it’s supposed to,” Thalia says, and I can’t imagine she’d be saying the same if she knew how I felt for Bailey.
“I hope so,” I say, and she smiles, disappearing into the back again.
Bailey and I haven’t had a chance to talk again since the night on the roof because I’m trying to keep my distance while Hunter is home.
I don’t know what’s going to happen with us, but the last thing I want to do is throw it in his face.
So instead, I’ve been throwing myself into my art, trying to figure out my feelings that way. Instead of trying to paint Bailey as a whole, I’ve found it easier to focus on the pieces of him.
I mastered the art of creating constellations from his freckles and the shades of emerald and turquoise in his irises, like the rolling waves of water on a hot summer day.
All my thoughts seem to surround him, and I don’t know how to pretend they don’t anymore.
My heart hurts for Bailey, hearing him explain how he felt like he didn’t fit in. Looking back, I understand it. I don’t think his parents ever meant to make him feel like he wasn’t important or that he didn’t fit in, but I get how Bailey slipped through the cracks for so long.
I drag my hands over my face, freezing when I remember I’m wearing mascara.Fuck. I swipe open the camera on my phone to see how much I’ve smeared it, but thankfully, it seems like I didn’t rub my eyes enough to ruin it.
I guess I should keep working on the guest list Thalia thinks I’m double checking for a showing we’re hosting laterin the month. I’ve already gone through it once, and it looked good, but I’m checking again to be on the safe side.
The last thing I want to do is let her and my mom down when I’m supposed to be proving I made the right decision in taking a gap year.
The bell above the door chimes, and without lifting my eyes up from the computer, I repeat the greeting I’ve gotten very familiar with. “Welcome to1133, how can I help you?”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d guess you’ve worked here for forever, sunshine,” Bailey’s voice says, and my head snaps up to find him.
He called me sunshine again. That’s a good sign, right?
A smile tugs at the corners of my mouth. “What are you doing here?” I ask, my cheeks flushing when I realize how the question sounds. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, but I just wasn’t expecting you to stop by?”Oh my god, Kait, just shut up now.
He holds up a paper bag, and a dusting of pink appears across his freckled cheeks. “I had an appointment to update my driver’s license, so I thought I’d bring you and my mom some lunch.”
“That’s really nice of you.”
Bailey pushes his blond waves out of his face.Is he going to cut it short again, or let the waves grow long?“It’s not a big deal. I’ll see you when you get home later.” He sets the bag on the counter above my desk, and I don’t want him to leave yet. I don’t have to tiptoe around him here because there’s a zero percent chance of Hunter walking in right now.
“Do you want to stay and have lunch with me?” I ask, trying not to overthink the invitation I’ve just extended.
“That’s okay. I don’t want to bother you,” he says, and that’s ridiculous.
I roll my eyes, standing up from my chair. “You’re not bothering me if I’m inviting you to stay. Please, Walker?”
“Okay, Price,” he agrees, his eyes glittering like the stars.
“Perfect.”
Apparently a week is all it takes for things to go drastically wrong.
A couple of days before Thalia and Sebastian were leaving for California, there was a tropical storm forming off the Atlantic coast of Florida, but it was supposed to weaken and continue a path inland. Instead, it’s now projected to swing back out onto the water and strengthen again, which means we’re fucked.
Now we’re down a lot of hands and stuck preparing all the houses and the gallery for the storm before leaving to ride it out at Henry and Mira’s house in Charlotte.
Henry and Bailey came to help me prep our parents’ house for a potential hurricane since I couldn’t do it by myself. Mirabelle brought Javi to supervise the setup so he wouldn’t feel left out.
