Mr. Hot Grinch - Lindsey Hart Page 0,66

you want. If she doesn’t call back, it’s not because of you, okay? It really is because of me.”

“Well, maybe after I’m done talking, you can say sorry too. Then she’ll know for sure. Maybe you can say no tricks and no treats.”

“Okay.” My eyes feel like they’re on fire. So does my throat, my nose, and my chest. “No tricks. But maybe not the no treats part. That’s just for Halloween.”

Shade nods at me, and he has a huge grin on his face now. He looks happier than he has been, well, since Feeney left. I dial the phone and hand it over. As predicted, it goes to voicemail. Shade hesitates, suddenly nervous, but he pushes through much better than I could and probably much better than I will.

“Hi. It’s Shade. Feeney, I miss you! I miss you so much! We got a new nanny, and she cooks good. She never burns anything. It sucks because now we never get pizza or burgers or anything. I hate it. She’s nice, but she’s not funny like you. I asked her if she knows what an opossum is, and she said yes, so that sucks. If I ever see one again, I can’t tell her it’s a cat to get her to come and look. She never says chicken nuggets, she never lets me have the extra treat at the grocery store, and she hates going to the splash pad. I miss you a lot. Will you please come to visit us? Dad says that you won’t because you’re mad at him because he lied to you, but I still want you to. He’s sorry for real. He didn’t tell me to say this. No tricks and no treats.” Shade fumbles with the phone and ends up hanging up. Then, he sheepishly passes the phone back to me. “Sorry! I forgot you were supposed to say no tricks. And I forgot to not say no treats.”

“That’s okay.” I swallow down the enormous lump in my throat and ruffle his hair. “That’s just fine.”

CHAPTER 25

Feeney

I want to think Luke put Shade up to it, leaving that message. I want to think so, but I just can’t force myself to do it. It was too honest. That bit at the end…Luke told Shade. Luke might not have told Shade everything in order to protect him, but he did tell him that he lied to me, and that’s the reason why I left. He also did tell Shade I was mad. Of course Shade misses me. I miss him too. I loved his message, and I played it over and over and over again while I sat on the lumpy motel bed and cried until my eyes went dry.

I know I have to talk to Luke. I can’t avoid it. If I want to see Shade, I can’t just show up and pretend as if nothing happened. It would be so horribly awkward, and I don’t want to get into it with Luke at any place where Shade could overhear.

I’m not going to shade Shade just because I’m pissed at his dad. Haha. I wish it were funny. I wish any of these were funny. I haven’t quite gotten around to finding it humorous yet.

It’s been weeks, and I’m still living in a motel room so cheap that I’m not sure I’m the only one living in the room. Thank god it doesn’t have bed bugs. Ants, yes. Spiders, yes. Flies, yes. But bed bugs? I’ve yet to find evidence of any. The place, with its tiny bathroom, dinged-up tub, ancient pink toilet, lumpy bed, and stained carpet and curtains at the window, looks like it could feature in a horror movie.

Unfortunately, I still have Luke’s number on my phone. Or maybe I should say Max’s number. Maxwell? Ugh. Yup. If I had any doubts about the universe hating me before…

I wait a day after the message, a terrible day, and then send Luke a text. I don’t know why, but I can’t stop thinking of him that way. He’s not a Max or a Maxwell, at least not to me. Maybe that makes me incredibly stupid because I sure feel like it when I think about the time at his house.

My phone buzzes right after I fire off the text. It’s like Luke’s sitting on it, waiting for it to ring—sitting on it. Bad choice of words. It makes me think about him literally sitting on it, which makes me think about his