Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 115833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
I walked out the back door and took the trail to the court, which had a path near it that wrapped around the house and led to the driveway. My keys were in my pocket. I could leave right now.
“Deke, come on.” Camille rushed after me. “He’s trying to change.”
“No, see, that’s the fucking problem, Camille!” I whirled around to face her, and she stopped dead in her tracks. “I don’t believe that shit. Not for a second. So, what, he goes to a fucking alcoholic group, joins a church, and that makes him a saint? Fuck that! He hasn’t changed, and you know it!”
“What happened between you, him, and Mama was so long ago, and we were all in a dark place, okay? I get it, trust me. I understand why you’re angry, but people can change, Declan.”
“Stop calling me that shit,” I snapped, giving her my back. I fished my keys out of my jeans pockets and marched toward the path. “Tell Eli and Jack I’ll see them tomorrow before my flight.”
“Deke!” Camille called, but I kept walking until I reached the Mazda.
I slammed the door behind me, huffing rapidly as I started the car and backed out of the driveway.
I was too fucking mad to drive, though.
Every car was in my way.
Every person crossing the street was a hindrance.
I pulled to the side of the road, bleary eyed and full of rage, and without thinking, I yelled and punched the steering wheel so many times my knuckles split.
TWENTY-FOUR
DAVINA
It was right after leaving the nail salon when I spotted an email from Deke that I knew would cause a rift in our friendship.
Can we text instead?
He’d included his number in the email too.
I blew a breath, dropping my phone into the cup holder and driving home. I wasn’t sure why his simple question made my heart stutter. I tried not to think too much about it. Tish would be coming over again, and this time she was bringing sushi. I figured I’d discuss the Deke matter with her later.
I decided to drive the long way home—the one that took me past the graveyard where Lewis was buried.
It’d been almost three months since my last visit. Each time I went back made me feel lonelier and made the reality harder to bear. A part of me didn’t think he was there. His soul was with God now, and that body in the grave was just a deteriorating vessel. Still, it was nice knowing his physical presence was somewhere I could find.
Tish was already parked in my driveway when I pulled up, and it was no surprise that she was in the house when I walked in. She and Octavia were the only two people with keys to my place.
Tish had already prepared a tray of various types of sushi along with a mini saucer of soy sauce and a glass bowl of edamame. She carried the tray to the coffee table in the living room as I placed my purse and keys down.
“You’re just in time for some good ole sushi!”
On this night, the premiere of some reality show involving a bunch of rich, dramatic housewives was streaming, and Tish loved that kind of stuff. Whatever it was, I wasn’t very tuned in. I was too busy reading the email from Deke again as I popped edamame beans into my mouth.
Why did he want to text now? Texting him would have been taking a step up . . . and it was a step I didn’t want to risk. And not only that, but he didn’t respond to my last email, like I thought he would.
I mean, sure, the whole entertaining other girls bit was a little over the top, but I thought it’d be funny or that he’d get a kick out of it. And, okay, maybe a part of me wanted to know if he was entertaining other women and, if he was, why he was wasting time emailing me. Not that it mattered much, but still. Emails were just that: emails. I could get back to them whenever I had time, but texting was more prompt. More intimate. Texting required a sort of personal dedication.
“. . . and then she had the nerve to let the door close in my face. Uh, hello?” Tish snapped her fingers in my face, and I blinked up at her. “Where is your head at?” she asked with a soft laugh.
“Sorry. Yeah, it’s here. What happened again?”
“What are you thinking about?” she asked, biting into a piece of tempura sushi.
I watched as she chewed, then followed it with a gulp of strawberry Fanta. I rested my upper back against the nearest sofa and set my phone down.
“It’s just Deke.”
Tish’s eyes expanded as she took another bite. “Deke?” she garbled around a mouthful.