Matty took half a step forward. “Please, don’t go like this.”
Reese looked at her, every ounce of frustration and hurt flashing across her face. It made Matty go still.
“I’ve spent the last week worried sick, trying to figure out what happened and what went wrong. What I did wrong,” Reese said, her voice shaking despite her best efforts. “You don’t get to stop me in the parking lot, say a whole lot of nothing, and expect that to fix it.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you—”
“Then tell me.”
Silence once again.
The hurt on Matty’s face should have made her stay and work harder. Instead, it just made her more tired.
Reese got into the car. “That’s what I thought.”
She shut the door before Matty could say anything else and peeled out of the parking lot with her heart thundering so hard it made her feel sick.
Chapter twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-eight
Matty hissed as her elbow made contact with the concrete planter box. Why Reese had insisted on getting one made out of concrete was beyond her. She could have just as easily selected clay or even plastic. Plastic was at least light.
She had spent the better part of an hour working on the little garden bed by her patio area. It was small and could only hold one planter, but she liked to keep the space looking nice. She had accompanied Bette to the local nursery that morning to pick up some things like soil, flowers, and the damned planter.
The red zinnias she selected were purely because Reese had gushed over them when they had gone to Home Depot. She loved the vibrant red and the contrast with the yellow center.
Matty’s lips turned down as she sat back on her heels, staring at them.
“You’re sad,” observed Kenny from the lawn chair nearby. He was in the shade, had a glass of lemonade, and was wearing one of Bette’s floral, wide-brimmed gardening hats. His scrawny, chicken legs were crossed at the ankles.
“And I don’t think you could look any more relaxed.”
“Bette said I needed a hat so my head didn’t burn.”
“You’re not even in the sun.”
He just blinked at her, and in some way, it was exactly like when his sister would silently call her out for something. She sighed, driving the trowel into the dirt. “I am sad. I miss Reese.”
“Where is she?”
“Probably at home,” she shrugged.
“Can you go see her? You can use my truck.”
He was so sweet. “It’s a little morecomplicated than that.”
“Why?”
She really didn’t want to talk about it. It had been such a hard week. Her heart and head had been at war. Every morning, she woke up not wanting to leave the safety of her apartment.
“I think I made a mistake. And then I made it worse. She’s not talking to me.” That was only the partial truth. Reese had tried to talk to her, but then, when Matty brushed her off, she had stopped trying.
“I like Reese.”
“Me too.”
“Then stop moping around and go talk to her,” Kerrie interrupted, huffing as she hefted a trash bag into the trash can nearby. She wiped sweat from her forehead. The twins were matching in cotton navy blue sleeveless shirts and shorts, except Kerrie was wearing a baseball cap and a gray sports bra that was showing in the deep cutouts on the sides of the top. Both wore Crocs, but only Kenny had his decorated with SpongeBob charms.
