Meant To Be (The Callahans #4) - Monica Murphy Page 0,27

I guess you don’t care. Or you’re still mad at me. I never told my brother anything about your family. My brother never knew about us at all until the night before the game, thanks to your IG story. But I’m not mad about that. I’m not mad about anything. I’m just sad.

I hit send, then continue typing.

I’m sad because you gave up on us so easily, and I can’t do that. Maybe you can. And if you don’t want me in your life anymore, then tell me. Tell me you don’t love me. Tell me you never want to see me again, and I’ll leave you alone.

I send that text too, because why not? I have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

But of course, he doesn’t respond.

Fighting back tears, I put the car in reverse and back out of the parking spot, then head home, so I can cry myself to sleep.

Yet again.

I pull into our circular driveway, hitting the brakes extra hard when I see the familiar car sitting directly in front of me.

My sister’s.

Autumn’s here?

I hustle my butt out of the car, quickly grabbing my backpack and my cheer practice bag from the trunk. I make my way into the house through the garage, chattering voices greeting me when I open the door. I find Mom, Beck and Autumn sitting at the kitchen table, laughing and talking. The smile on my sister’s face is huge when she spots me. She looks happy to be home.

She looks happy in general.

“Ava!” she says brightly. “Get in here!”

I hurry over to the table just as Autumn stands, embracing her fully. She’s shorter than me by a few inches and I cling to her like she’s my lifeline, closing my eyes against the sudden, stinging tears.

I’m totally overreacting, but I also don’t care. I’ve missed her.

So much.

“Happy to see you too,” she says into my hair, before she moves to press a smacking kiss on my cheek.

Reluctantly, I let go of her. “Why are you here?”

Autumn laughs. So does Mom. “I got an unexpected three-day weekend, so I thought I’d come home. This way I can go watch Ash’s game Saturday.”

She’s been with her boyfriend since they were high school seniors. They go to different colleges, live about five hours apart, yet somehow, they can still make it work. They’re madly in love, though in the early days of their relationship, they had some struggles.

“Aren’t you glad she came home?” Mom asks me as we both settle down in our chairs. She reaches over and rubs Autumn’s arm. “We’ve missed having you around. Soon Jake will leave too—”

“Won’t miss him,” I interrupt, making Autumn giggle.

“I’ll miss him,” Beck says as he stands. “I’m going to take a shower. You guys go ahead and have your girl talk. I’m out.”

With that, he’s gone.

Mom just sighs and shakes her head. “Fine, we will have our girl talk. Ava, how was your day?”

“It was whatever,” I say with a little shrug.

Autumn sends me a curious look. “What’s going on?”

“Oh. Nothing,” I say innocently.

“She’s had some relationship trouble,” Mom says, being purposely vague, and she sends my sister a look, like they might’ve discussed my situation already.

Great.

“We’ll talk about that later,” Autumn says firmly, her gaze on me.

We chat about other things. Catch up on family gossip, which isn’t much. Autumn tells us about her college classes, and how it’s going for her. She’s a junior and goes to UC Santa Barbara. I’m jealous she gets to live by the ocean. I wouldn’t mind going there.

But my problem is I have no idea what I want to do with my life. I’m only sixteen. I can barely figure out what I’m going to wear each day. I can’t plan my entire future by the time I graduate high school.

Dad and Jake arrive about thirty minutes after I got home and they’re all over Autumn. Even Jake, who most of the time acts like he can’t stand her, though she hasn’t lived with us for over two years. I decide to bow out and go take a shower. I’m tired and I still have homework to do and a test to study for. Tomorrow is going to be a typical, busy Friday with the football game, plus Wyatt wants me to go to Tony’s house afterward.

I’m exhausted just thinking about it.

I open the bathroom door, steam billowing out as I enter my bedroom. I stop short when I see who’s sitting all cozy on my