Chapter 19
SIENNA
The thing about small towns is that everyone is on their own time. There is no such thing as keeping up with an appointment or a time you said you were going to arrive.
It’s a suggestion.
However, this suggested time is going to have me displayed as an ice sculpture in the middle of town because my HVAC unit went out, and the landlord is out of town.
He promised to send someone first thing in the morning.
It’s eleven o’clock.
Curled up in fuzzy socks, three blankets, sweatpants, and a sweatshirt, I impatiently wait for the handyman to arrive, to no avail.
I’ve read up on frozen pipes, how long it takes for hypothermia to set in, and if I could figure it out myself.
I found nothing helpful.
The thought of going into town and warming up at the Maple any big, important life event is usually celebrated together.”
“I didn’t sign up to be a part of a cult.”
“Yeah, you did. We’re a packaged deal.”
I set my jaw. “I wouldn’t invite you to anything of mine if you were the only person I was able to invite.”
“What would the folks say to that?”
I bristle. “I don’t care.”
“You would if I told them we were fucking, I stopped it, and now you’re holding a grudge against me.”
I’ve never been a violent person.
However, the want to kick Micah in the chest and watch him fall on his ass is looking really good right now.
“You have to know how this is going to eventually end, right?” he poses, almost innocently to my ears, as he continues to stare at me like I’m supposed to soak in everything he says. “When this is all over—”
“When what is all over?” I cut in sharply underneath my breath so my voice doesn’t carry to Heath in the kitchen.
“You gaining a few more brain cells from the ones you burnt up from smelling too much motor oil?” He opens his mouth to answer, but I don’t allow him to spew out any sort of false hope to my ears.
If he does, I’m afraid of what I may do.
“Whatever you have going on, Micah Wolfe, I can assure you, I won’t be available to you.
In any capacity that may live rent-free in your head.
Like you said, we’re done. Do what you need to do and leave me alone. ”
“That’s never going to happen, it seems.”
“It will.”
“It won’t. I was in a bad state of mind. Still kinda am, but let me make it up to you. I’m sorry for how I acted and treated you. I just didn’t—”
“No.”
Micah has the damn nerve to hit me with an exasperated expression. “Sienna, I’m really beginning to love your temper and this whole playing hard to get bullshit. Trust me, I know I deserve it. However, that’s not going to stop me from getting you again.”
“That confidence of yours is really going to give you a brutal reality check.”
“Jonah isn’t me.”
A mirthless chuckle leaves my lips. “Oh, I know. I love that.”
“You’re lying again.”
“I can assure you, I’m not.”
“You are,” he replies arrogantly. “Your eyes can’t hide the fact that you still want me. And you already know I want you, too. Just bad timing all around.”
My cheeks heat, but I still pop off with, “I think that was the universe saving me from you.”
Micah shakes his head. “No. I just failed our first attempt at issues, and I didn’t know how to navigate it. And you weren’t even involved with the problem. I just didn’t want you to become a consequence.”
It’s hard to be mad at him when he had my best interests in mind. That he was fearful that his ex would run my career in the ground, and honestly, I’m sure it could’ve hurt Micah and custody of Heath.
And Heath comes first.
“If I told you…that I forgive you, would you stop?”
Micah doesn’t break eye contact when he says, “Probably not. But I’d like to hear it anyway.”
I roll my eyes. “Why bother when it doesn’t get me what I want?”
“Because you already do. Self-awareness is the first sign of growth, sweetheart. Letting me back in is another. And, I promise, I’ll never do something like that to you again. We were so early in our relationship, I couldn’t handle it if I made you lose what you loved to do.”
Ugh.
It doesn’t make it hurt less, but it makes more sense. Which means the months I’ve spent hating him were for nothing.
It was a waste of time.
“I understand,” I utter underneath my breath. “However, I think we should cut our losses and move on.”
“I don’t want to move on. I’m in lo—” My foot meets his hard chest, and I get my wish after all.
Micah falls backward, his butt hitting my hardwood floor just as Heath comes waltzing back in with his arms full of Cheez-Its, chips, and applesauce.
He doesn’t realize his dad is on the floor until he gets closer. Meanwhile, my heart beats wildly in my chest because, if my ears weren’t making it up, he was about to tell me something that would’ve made me break down in God knows what kind of emotions.
Heath stares at his father for several moments before he says, “Do we need to get you a walker like Grandpa?”
Let’s say I die of laughter within the next two seconds.
Not because of words like I love you.