Annie heaves a gusting sigh and pulls me into a hug. “It’s not me you need to convince. Do you want my advice?”
My soft voice is muffled against her shoulder. “Yes, please.”
“Give him some time right now. Let him start school in peace. While you’re waiting, make a plan to show him you’re serious about a relationship with him this time. Give him plenty of reasons to trust that you’ll stay.”
Her instructions feel daunting, but it’s the most important assignment I’ve ever received. I pull in a determined breath. “Will you help me?”
She presses her lips together and leans away. “Here’s the thing. He’s my brother and you’re my best friend. I refuse to be in the middle here. Don’t ask me for information about him, because I won’t tell you. Likewise, I’m not going to feed him any information about you. This is the last thing I’ll say, and then you’re on your own. Get your stuff together and get him back.”
Annie stays to help me clean up the house. After she leaves, I take a shower and put on clean clothes, and already I feel mostly human again. I make myself pasta for dinner—well, I boil dehydrated noodles and add jarred tomato sauce, but it’s a start—and go for a run. I take another shower when I get back and let the hot water blast my skin so long that my shoulders turn pink and my fingers prune.
I go to sleep early, in my bed instead of on the couch in front of a movie. In the morning, I actually feel rested, so I decide to tackle some other tasks I’ve been neglecting, like clearing out the notifications on my phone.
I unlock the screen, and the first thing I do, after several fortifying breaths, is unblock Gage’s number.
I move on to checking my email, where I find a message from the Brightline School for Science, the charter school in North Austin I applied to back at the same time as Virtus.
I have to reread the email three times to make sure I’m getting it right. They want to schedule an interview with me. I check the date stamp on the message and am relieved to see it came in yesterday and not four days ago when I first crashed out.
I email them back right away. By the end of the day, I have an in-person interview set up for next week with a Ms. Carolina Brown, the school director.
Of course, the first person I want to call with this news is Gage, but I don’t contact him.
Instead, I think about what Annie said about triggering Gage’s fear of abandonment by leaving camp without talking to him. The parallels between how I broke up with Gage at camp and how I rejected him back at graduation are undeniable. I had fear and weak excuses, and I left and ghosted him again. And I lied. Again. I have to stop doing that.
But what it all means is that like Annie said, I need to give us a little breathing room before I do anything else regarding Gage. I need to sit in my insecurities by myself for a little longer, so I don’t go to him raw and emotional. I need to be sure and encouraging and solid, so he knows it’s safe to trust me again. I need to make sure Iamtrustworthy.
Chapter thirty-four
Olivia
Sometimesbeingtheyoungestof three sisters is the worst. Teachers and even my parents constantly compared me to my older sisters. It’s easy to feel overlooked. I’ve felt left behind as they’ve reached milestones I haven’t gotten to yet. There are a lot of hand-me-downs.
But usually, being the youngest Delaney sister—specifically being Molly and Nicole’s little sister—is one of the best parts of my life, because my sisters are amazing.
When I get on our group text to see if either of them has time for a quick video call, they both drop everything. Of course, asking for facetime with Molly and Nicole isn’t something I typically do, so they probably think I’m dying.
Which I’m not, quite yet. I’m back to keeping my head above water as I figure out my next steps with Gage and my career, not to mention my living situation.
“So, what’s going on?” Nicole asks without wasting time with pleasantries like saying hello.
“Yeah,” echoes Molly. “Are you okay?”
I hold back a smile at their obvious concern. “Hi, Nicole. Hi, Molly. It’s nice to see you both.” They stare at me expectantly, so I grin and add, “Nice weather we’re having.”
Nicole rolls her eyes. “Hi, Olivia.”
Molly waves. “You’re smiling, so this can’t be too much of an emergency situation?”
“Yeah,” echoes Nicole. “Are you okay?”
“Well.” I inhale deeply. “Not really. But I’m getting there. I need some advice.”
“Is it Gage?” Molly asks quickly. “Jonathan said he’s happy to beat him up for you.”
I bite back another smile at the thought of my oldest sister’s sweet, even-keeled husband fighting anyone.
Nicole frowns. “Adam’s not really a beat-people-up kind of guy, but I’m sure we could figure out another kind of revenge if that’s what you need.”
