Not So Far Away (Worlds Collide The Duets #1) - LL Meyer Page 0,63

it was Piper, but same difference, right?”

Shuffling closer, I kiss him on the cheek still without meeting his eyes. “I want you to know that it was an important moment for me,” my voice cracks, but I force myself to continue, “and that I’m so glad it was you who found me that day. So thank you.”

I walk back to the bench, grab my phone and leave him behind for good.

Scott

It didn’t go how I planned.

Yeah, I knew ignoring her texts on Saturday was a grade-A asshole move, but I didn’t want to deal with any of it; not her and definitely not any of what I was feeling. I needed a breather. I needed to let off some steam before the pressure of my life caused more than just the usual hairline fractures.

When she didn’t return my Sunday night/Monday morning messages, I knew she was upset. It worried me enough that I asked Dean for a very rare half day off to get things sorted out, to apologize or whatever. I fully expected her to accept my explanation and let me off with a warning . . . or something.

It was supposed to be easy.

I figured since it was her day off, she’d be at home. When she wasn’t there, I went by her work, where I got an extremely stony reception. Admittedly, that worried me, but I managed to get enough hints out of her friend, Vanessa, to a make an educated guess where to find her.

Then, the sight of her made the bottom of my still slightly hung-over and queasy stomach fall out. She’d been crying. My self-assured, steady, full-of-life Ellie had been crying – because of me. And then, she’d hit me with a ton of shit.

Since leaving the shore, my brain’s gone from being stuck in neutral to fifth gear. Initially, I didn’t have a clue how to start sifting through it all. She was that girl on the sidewalk? And the Spanish? It struck me as . . . lying and tendrils of betrayal had started to work their way into me, like the roots of a weed that manages to take hold in unexpected and impossible places. And once the roots were embedded, my indignation and resentment didn’t just bud, they flourished. Apparently, I’d never known her at all.

“Mijo?” My grandmother’s surprise when I walk in our front door at two o’clock in the afternoon on a workday quickly turns to concern. “Is everything okay? What are you doing home?”

I expanded my half-day to a full day off, but I don’t tell her that. “Everything’s fine,” I say neutrally. “I had something to take care of, that’s all.”

“I see.”

Her expression is suspiciously similar to the one she wore all day yesterday while I pretended that I wasn’t hung over like a mother fucker after going out with my friends on Saturday night after leaving Jorgie’s mom’s house. For all my effort, she saw right through me. A roiling stomach, an aching head, and a bitter mood aren’t things I’m very adept at concealing.

“What time do the girls get out of school?” I ask, trying not to be aggravated with her silent censure. I’m an adult and I do not need this right now. “I’ll go pick them up.”

She gives me an infuriating sweeping gesture with her hand that seems to say, by all means, go. You don’t need my permission. I grit my teeth and head back out the door.

Standing in the hot sun while I wait for the dismissal bell does little to improve my outlook and I rebuff all the moms who try to engage me in conversation.

“?Papá?”

“Hola, guapa,” I say, bending to scoop Rosa up, backpack and all. “?Cómo te fue?” How’d it go today?

“Bien. Is Abuela okay?”

“She’s fine.”

“Okay,” she says cautiously, her big brown eyes round as she kisses my cheek. “I’m glad you don’t smell like Mamá Lilia today.”

Shit, if that’s not a kick to the gut, I don’t know what is. “No, and I’m sorry about that.”

The smile that spreads across her face makes me feel a little less guilty. “Let’s go get your sisters.”

As soon as Daniela’s teacher, Ms. Josson, spots me, I wish I hadn’t come. “Mr. McCarthy, a word please if you have a few minutes.” Shit, that’s right, she wanted to talk to me about something that happened on the playground.

I muster up a pleasant expression. “Yeah, okay. Just let me get Carmen.” Ms. Josson was Carmen’s teacher last year; she’s strict, but