I give a salute like I did the first day I met him at the mall—apparently, that is my go-to exit strategy. Then I turn around and walk away, leaving Park Bradshaw and everything between us in the past.
FORTY-EIGHT
LACEE
December 31
Leavenworth, Washington
“Areyou sure you don’t want to go out with your sisters to the New Year’s Eve party?” my mom asks as she stirs melting marshmallows in a pot on the stove. “It has to be more exciting than watching me make Rice Krispie treats.”
“Watching you make them isn’t exciting, but eating them is. So I think I’d rather stay home.” I twist the kitchen barstool I’m sitting on back and forth.
“I like having you home,” my dad says as he washes dishes in the sink. “We can ring in the New Year together.”
“Eastern Standard Time,” my mom chimes in. “We can watch the ball drop in New York and then go to bed early. Nobody likes staying up ‘til midnight.”
9 p.m.—that’s when my mom wants to celebrate the New Year.
Ugh.
My entire body deflates.
I hate this holiday. It’s worse than Valentine’s Day.
I’m that girl—the one I didn’t want to be—whose pathetic New Year’s Eve plans mimic her pathetic life. It looks like Park wasted his money when he bought me that silk dress. Unless I wear it to bed at 9:05 p.m. after I ring in the New Year with my parents. A lot of people sleep in silk pajamas. I can make this work.
My mom dumps half a bag of cereal into her pot. “Well, I’m just bummed that things between you and Park didn’t work out.”
Me, too.
“When you left on Christmas Eve, I really thought you were going to be able to fix things.” She frowns.
“Sometimes things really are too complicated to be fixed.” Like when you accuse someone of espionage, make him fight for his life, and lie to him for days about who you really are. That’s quite the list of wrongdoings. It’s hard to come back from that. No wonder Park didn’t waste time moving on with someone else. It’s impressive that he was able to clear his name, expose a double agent, take down a Russian weapons dealer,andsecure a date for New Year’s Eve. Talk about multitasking.
My phone vibrates on the counter and I glance down, seeing Derek’s name. “Hey, I’ve got to take this call for work.”
“Make it fast,” my dad says over his shoulder. “I’m going to need a dish dryer in a second.”
“Great.” I lift my lips like I’m smiling, but nothing about drying dishes makes me happy. I walk down the hall to my bedroom and press the button on my phone accepting the call. “Hello?”
“Sienna, hey! I didn’t think you’d answer. I thought you’d be at a party or out doing something fun.”
Just pour salt in my wound, Derek. And not tiny salt. His words feel like rock salt, eating away my heart like it’s an iced-over sidewalk.
“Nope, I’m just home with my parents.” There’s no point in sugarcoating my lameness. I shut my bedroom door and sit on the edge of my bed. “What about you? Aren’t you celebrating?”
“No, I pretty much work all of the time. That’s actually why I’m calling you. Since your cache of gadgets and supplies was depleted in Exuma, I thought you might want to put in another order.”
Depleted? More like Park blew all my stuff up.
“Yeah, sure.”
“Okay, send me a list of what you want. I’m placing the order tomorrow afternoon.”
“Sounds good.”
“And tell Park when you see him to send me his requests too.”
