“Don’t know. I hung up on him.”
Julio sighs and scrubs a hand over his face. “Seriously?”
I cut him with a glare. “Yes. Seriously. What the fuck would you have me do?”
“Talk to the man,” he says, throwing his hands in the air.
“When hell freezes over,” I tell him. “As far as I’m concerned, my father died months ago. So did my mother.”
Julio grunts. “I take it you’re not going to her wedding, then?”
I snort, prepared to tell him I’m not, when an idea slips into my mind.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Glancing at my phone, I consider messaging Cecilia now but the wedding is still a few weeks away, and Julio was right when he said she has a lot on her plate. I’m not trying to add to it.
Giving Cecilia space feels like the right thing to do, but it's eating away at me. Still, if she needs time, I'll respect that.
For now.
Maybe.
Hopefully.
I fucking hate this.
I can't shake the feeling of helplessness that gnaws at me. It's like being stuck in a nightmare, unable to reach the person I care about most.
Depending on how long she plans to avoid me, I can use my mother’s wedding as an excuse to reach out to Cecilia later. To spend time with her and see how she’s doing.
It feels manipulative. Wrong. But at this stage in our relationship, I’m not above it.
That should bother me, but it doesn’t. And I should feel ashamed about that, but I don’t.
I turn to Julio, my brows drawn together. "I'm going to the wedding.”
He raises an eyebrow, clearly surprised by my sudden change of heart. "You sure about that?" he asks cautiously.
I nod, not at all confident in my decision, but what other choice do I have? “Yeah. I already told Cecilia I’d go,” I say, my voice firm. "Maybe she’ll still come with me. You know,” I shrug. “After the dust settles.”
Julio studies me for a moment, his expression not at all pleased. “If you think it’s a good idea—” he hedges.
“I do,” I assure him, feeling my shoulders relax now that I have some semblance of a plan. I pull out my phone, ready to mark the wedding date on my calendar. It may be a long shot, but if there's even a chance of Cecilia going with me, of spending time with me again, I'll take it.
And maybe, just maybe, this can be the first step towards putting things between us back together.
I won’t let our relationship splinter apart. Not over an asshole like Austin Holt. He doesn’t get to take her from me.
37CECILIA
“He asked about you today,” Adriana says.
“You’ve mentioned that before,” I tell her with a sigh.
“He asks about you every day.”
Using my concealer and a beauty blender, I gingerly press over the purplish skin around my eyes and the bruises marking my jawline. It does little to hide the state of my face, but there isn’t much more I can do.
