Chapter 10
Phoenix
My pacing back and forth across the family room floor had to have been driving everyone mad.
Brooklynn was on the couch watching The Princess Bride.
Amberly, James, and Dad sat at a card table playing Rummy, and Ma was beside them with Maddie on her lap, doing something on her computer.
I kept stomping around behind them, unintentionally becoming a distraction while I mulled shit over.
I couldn’t believe that Jonas had up and left.
What was that he’d promised me not even a week ago?
Oh yeah. That he wouldn’t do literally this exact thing.
No avoidance this time, he’d said. This was what I got for putting myself out there.
He’d pulled away about twenty minutes ago, after feeding me some bullshit excuse about needing to get back to Raleigh for work.
The simple truth was that he left because of me, and I didn’t even try to stop him because I was pissed.
I stopped pacing and slumped onto the couch beside Brooklynn.
She glanced over at me and then back at the screen.
“You know,” she began, “if you haul ass and you’re willing to put up the big bucks, you could fly from Asheville to Raleigh through Charlotte in like two and a half hours.
You could beat Jonas home.” She shot me another glance. “Just saying.”
A flicker of hope sparked in my gut, to be immediately snuffed out again by reality. “He doesn’t want me to do that.”
“Bet ya five hundred bucks he’d ultimately be happy to see you.”
I sat up and grabbed the remote from her, then paused her movie. “Do you know something I don’t?”
She sighed dramatically and shifted so that she sat cross-legged. “I know several million things that you don’t know, Phoenix. You’re gonna need to be more specific than that.”
“About Jonas, Brookie. You know what I meant.”
“Okay, look. I’m breaking several best friend codes here, but I love you both, so, yes.
” She counted on her fingers. “He’s crazy about you.
But he’s afraid he’s just another one of the guys you’ve got coming and going like a revolving door.
He’s concerned because you live so far apart and have very different lives.
And I know my best friend. He wants to be romanced, ya know?
Not just a vacation hookup. The whole true love, big gesture thing.
Not that you need to be in love with him to go after him.
You care about him, and he cares about you.
There are worse and weirder potential couples, I suppose.
” She grinned at me when I flipped her off, then she leaned forward and grabbed something from the coffee table.
“Hold out your hand.” I held my hand out, palm up, and she smacked a key onto it.
“Apartment key. If you hurt him or defile my couch, you’re dead to me. ”
“You care about your couch as much as your best friend?”
“Hey, it’s a new couch, and it’s comfy.” She shrugged, then stretched her arms over her head and settled into the cushions. “You better get going. You’ll be cutting it close as it is with TSA. But with Jonas pulling off for pit stops and to get gas, you just might make it there before him.”
I stood up and hesitated for a moment. I had no time to spare, but didn’t know what to do first. Okay, focus.
Ticket. Luggage. Ride to the airport. In that order.
My family stood up for hugs. I was cutting my visit with them short, and I did feel guilty about that.
But then my mom handed me a piece of paper, and when I glanced at it, it was a flight ticket she must have just printed.
I pulled her in for another hug. “Thanks, Ma,” I whispered in her ear.
She patted the spot between my shoulder blades as we hugged. “Go work through whatever situation you’ve found yourselves in. And take care of that young man. He deserves it.” Pulling away, she looked me in the eyes. “So do you.”
Dad came walking back into the room, plopped the strap of my duffel bag into my hand, and then passed me the keys to his SUV. “I’ll pick it up from the lot later, son. Just let me know which one you end up in.”
They all shooed me to the door. My head was spinning. This was crazy. I very likely could regret it. Jonas might slam the door in my face when he saw me—for the second time in less than a week. But it was a chance I was willing to take.