Chapter 29 #2
“No, I’m good. Just wanted to make sure you are okay. Give me your phone.” He stretches his arm with an open palm, and I pass him my phone. He punches digits in and returns the phone. “Here, call me anytime.” I nod. “Anytime. Got it?”
“Yes,” I whisper, feeling a new wave of pain descending upon me.
“Oh, Kayla.” Mark grabs my hand and pulls me into his embrace, where I shed all the liquids I have left in my eyes to the point of hiccuping. “This will pass.”
“I know,” I muffle into his shirt. “But it hurts.”
He doesn’t say anything but just keeps me tight to his body.
When I’m finally done, he makes sure I’m okay and leaves me to my business, forcing me once again to promise to call him if I need anything.
I promise him with a sincere smile. Mark was always there, even though we were never considered actual friends.
But when anyone needed protection, Mark was there, like a solid wall you can lean on or hide behind.
When he’s gone, I call Archie.
“Hey, Kay-baby.” He’s ever flirtatious.
“Hi, Archie.” My voice cracks a little, and he senses it immediately.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m ready to start that thing we were discussing anytime now.” I sniffle into the phone.
“Did something happen?” His voice borders the edge of dangerous.
“Sort of. I just need to get out of town.” I’m vague, but I’m not about to go into details. At least, not yet.
“Okay. I’m gonna send you my address; come here anytime.”
“Alright. I just need to get my trailer ready.”
“What for?” Genuine confusion laces his voice.
“To hook it up to my Jeep.” Duh.
“Oh no, don’t do that. Just pack your bags and come here, you’ll be staying with me. I have five extra bedrooms I’m not using, so you can bring half of Little Hope with you.”
“Okay.” I don’t fight him. I got no energy left for that.
I get my bags ready. A suitcase would be nice right about now, but I’ve never traveled and never needed one, so I get three small bags packed with my clothes, toiletries, and art supplies. I load everything into my Jeep, then I gather all the stuff I have outside and bring it inside the trailer.
When I lock everything up and go to the car, I see a movement in the bushes. A familiar, sad face greets me.
“Hey, Frank. I’m not leaving forever; I’ll be back, I promise.”
He only looks at me with big brown eyes in response. I wave at him and climb into the car.
I have two stops to make on the way. First is Freya.
She opens the door, and her face falls at the sight of me. “You’re leaving, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, I’m taking Archie up on his offer.” I force a smile on my face.
“What about Justin?” she asks, looking behind me as if he’s there.
“What about him?”
“I thought you two were together.” She sounds crestfallen. Just how I feel.
“I thought so too.” My face hardens as the memory I’m trying to suppress with all my might returns to the surface.
“I see.” She’s chewing on her lip. “Asshole,” she mutters under her breath. “What did he do?”
“Nothing. It’s all good. It’s just time for us to go our separate ways.” I don’t want to say too much because Justin is a big part of Alex’s life, and Alex is Freya’s life, and me mentioning what I saw will not go well.
She’s carefully watching my face. “Okay. But you will tell me when you’re ready, right?”
“Yeah, I will.” I smile sadly.
“Okay.” I see a battle of emotions on her face. One side of her wants to grill me for information. Another wants to comfort me. And one more wants to rip Justin’s balls off; I can tell because she still blames him for whatever happened. Mission failed.
“Kayla?” A low growl, Alex’s regular voice, comes from inside the house. “You’re leaving?”
“Yep. Going to school. Yay!” I try to sound enthusiastic, but by the look on his face, I fail.
“Good for you.” He comes out and gives me a bear hug. Then Freya nudges him to the side and throws her arms around me, and I bury my face in her neck because I’m shorter, and she smells good.
“Call me when you get there, okay?”
“Of course,” I assure her because she looks so worried, and I don’t want to dump my problems on her.
We say our goodbyes, and I go to my next stop—Marina. Her face is full of the bad kind of surprise when I tell her I’m leaving.
“What? Now?” she exclaims.
“Yeah.”
“Why? What about Justin?” she asks, way too upset. Would you look at that? Someone’s becoming Justin’s advocate.
“Justin’s done.”
“Why? What happened?” Marina brings her hand to her mouth.
“I wasn’t planning on telling anyone, but I know you can keep it a secret.” I take a deep breath. “I just found a naked woman on top of him.”
Her hand goes to her braless chest. “No way? Can’t be true!”
“Marina! I thought you were on my side!”
“I am. That’s why I can’t believe it. That boy is in love. Why would he sleep with anyone else?” She’s tapping her chin with her finger, lost in her thoughts.
I begin laughing. “Justin? In love with me? I don’t think so.” I shake my head.
She finally focuses on me with the words “Foolish kids.”
We hug and kiss goodbye, and I give her the address I’ll be staying at.
The drive to Boston is uneventful. I don’t cry a single tear after the waterfall with Mark. All I want now is to fall flat on a bed—any bed—and get lost in sleep.
When I stop at Archie’s driveway, I need to make sure if I’m at the right place because ma-a-an , that house is enormous.
It’s made of red brick, the entrance has four white columns, and the door is a double with painted glass on either side.
The landscaping is marvelous. All types of plants from different climate zones perfectly match each other.
I’m not sure how he keeps all of them alive, but he probably pays a fortune to his landscaping company.
I check again—yep, the address is correct. I get out of the car and walk to the door. Right when I’m about to ring the bell, it opens, and Archie steps out with a broad smile across his face.
“Welcome home!” He spreads his arms. And I begin bawling. Again. “Oh shit,” he says, pulling me inside and giving me a hug. “Do you want me to go and break his nose?”
A muffled laugh escapes me. “How do you know that it was him?”
He makes a tsk ing noise. “Please. Why else would you be here at night? The idiot messed up. My gain. I just got myself a future star. C’mon in.” He gently leads me inside the house.
And with that, a new chapter of my life starts. I get into the school and work at Archie’s parlor in my free time. It’s not so much a job but also experience I put toward hours at school. A win-win.
That first night I cry. A lot. I thought we shared something.
There was something special—it turns out I was wrong.
The second night I cry too. Same with the third and the fourth.
And many nights after. During the day, I put a brave face on, but at night I take the happy mask off and let my real feelings pour out of me.
Quite literally—waterfall nights follow every single day.
I talk with Freya daily on the phone, and she asks me if I’m ready to share every time. At this point, I don’t even want to remember. I don’t want to relive that horrible moment when I understood that my feelings were shit on by the one person I let myself be vulnerable with.
After four weeks, I stopped crying at night, but the ever-present ache in my chest remained there forever.