Chapter 9 Sibyl
Sibyl
I cried a lot that night. The one where Eli looked at me like I just broke his heart, like we’d done something so unforgivable, he hated himself.
He said he wanted me. Said he wanted to make me his, and then he looked at me like I broke something.
I scrubbed myself raw in the shower that night. I’d never felt dirtier in my entire life. Eli isn’t married, he’s a widower, but he still feels like he is. I could see the betrayal clearly on his face.
It’s been three weeks, and I haven’t seen him since. The gallery from Ramona sits unopened in my email. Her questions about an update go unanswered. The girls and Kellan are pissed at me for refusing to share even the tiniest of details with them about that day.
They assumed it was so bad I couldn’t talk about it. Kellan has demanded a name for retribution. They don’t know it was the best and simultaneously worst day of my life.
We’ve been avoiding each other, or rather, I spend hours of my day staring at the shop door, willing him to come in, only to be constantly disappointed when he doesn’t.
I don’t know how he could have been clearer—between the look on his face and the way he told me to go. I thought he wanted me, but I guess he didn’t want me enough.
Hazel
OK what is going on with you and Ellie?
Ellie
E L I
SHIT!
Me
wdym?
Hazel
Don’t play stupid with me
What the hell is going on?
Tucker said he hasn’t seen you in weeks.
Me
He hasn’t needed me.
Hazel
Tucker?
Are you kidding me? That kid adores you and he misses you
Me
Eli hasn’t asked
Hazel
Then march your hot ass over there and tell him you demand some time with his kid
Me
Not sure that’s how it works
Hazel
Babe…this is weird af.
Even Tay asked what was up with you two.
Another text flashes across my screen. A group chat between Ramona, Eli, and me.
Ramona
Got your video done and I can’t not share! I hope you guys love it. Thank you again for coming out for that session! I’ll send you the link once it’s posted!!
I groan, sinking into my desk chair. Kellan has started getting suspicious as well.
Guess that’s what happens when you get tangled up with someone who’s basically family.
I set my phone down, ignoring the vibration as someone calls me.
It’s 50/50 on who it is. It could be Eli, calling to smooth things over, to make a plan for the people we love, witnessing us make utter fools of ourselves.
My money is on Hazel, though. She doesn’t like to be ignored.
Heaving a sigh, I return to the text thread from earlier. I sent my phone number on my resume, and Miss Allura Jones sent me a text not thirty minutes later. I would have felt more comfortable doing this over email or even the phone. But here I am, begging for a job interview—over text.
Me
Hello Miss Jones
I am writing to let you know I will be passing through your area tomorrow.
I won’t be passing through. I’m making the trip specifically for this.
Me
If you’re still looking for someone to fill the front desk position, I would be happy to come in and chat.
I sign my name at the end of the text, something that feels a bit like a crime, if I’m being honest.
I am not surprised when Allura Jones texts me back right away, asking to see me at eleven. I check my watch, counting the hours on my fingers. Juniper Hills is nine hours away. If I want to make the drive and be somewhat coherent for an interview at eleven a.m., I’m going to have to leave now.
“Dad.” I call into the house, which is attached to the shop. Massy Auto Body is Dad’s baby. Kellan only took it over in the last year or two.
“What’s up, Sugar Plum?” My dad rounds the corner, a pair of blue overalls tight over his beer belly, gray hair growing in a ring around the sides of his head—the top completely bald.
“I need to take off. Can you man the desk for the rest of the day? And tomorrow?”
“Sure thing. Everything okay?”
“Totally.” I force a smile.
“Well.” Dad shuffles past me, plopping into my expensive office chair. I grimace when he leans the backrest as far back as it’ll go. Things do not stay nice for long in the Massy household. “You can tell me the truth about it when you get back.” He winks. “Or you and I can go for a drive.”
I shudder.
When I was in high school, and something bothered me, I would clam up and get real quiet.
Dad said he always knew when something was wrong because my spark was dull.
So he’d get me in the car, and drive around town…
in silence. He wouldn’t say a peep. Five minutes of that and I’d crack under the pressure, word vomiting all my troubles until I either felt better or cried it out.
It’s a non-issue, though. By the time I get back from interviewing, everyone is going to know anyway.
“I’ll tell you everything. Not tomorrow, but the next day.”
“Alright, Sugar.” He raises a brow when I grab my keys off the pegboard behind the desk.
“Kellan put it outside.” I shrug.
Moving a car from the shop is our universal sign that it’s been fixed and is ready for pickup. Considering I’m the client, I skip the bill and head straight for my candy-apple-red Mercury Mountaineer that’s chilling in the parking lot.
God, I’ve missed her. Eve has been my ride since I bought her straight out of high school.
She’s a great little SUV. Most people wouldn’t be able to drive their first cars around, but it helps that my brother is both a talented mechanic and body man.
All the little bumps and scrapes have been buffed out, and Eve had a new transmission put in just last year.
I’m a solid fifteen minutes out of town when I go to plug my phone into the aux cord. Shock and a mild amount of horror fill me when I realize I left it at the shop face down on the desk.
Poor Hazel.
And poor me. Nothing like a nine-hour road trip with only the radio and my thoughts to keep me company. Fuck’s sake.
Could this month get any worse?
Good thing I know where the spa is.