This isn’t the end of us, I remind myself.He’ll still be visiting his parents.He might even come back soon to help them move in.
The sun shines a little brighter, and I find myself smiling, despite the heat.
Then, I glance up and see a truck on the wrong side of the road, speeding toward me.
Shit.I swerve for the ditch a second too late.
My whole body tenses, bracing for impact.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-THREE
ETHAN
I couldn’t tellyou what time I woke this morning, totally disoriented and expecting to hear the distant crash of the ocean instead of the wail of police sirens.For the first time in who knows how long, I didn’t set an alarm.Given I already saw Mom and Dad after I got in last night, there isn’t really anything to jump out of bed for.
Except—I jerk upright and grab my phone.
Shit, I was so tired when I hit the sack that I forgot to plug the damn thing in.My charger’s still buried in my suitcase.
Padding into the cold kitchen, my gaze lands on the oven clock.Wow, it’s almost eleven.I must still be exhausted from all the work I knocked out at Inner Shores.I still can’t quite believe I pulled it off, especially after my mind got hung up on something else.
Fuck, don’t think about her.
Every time I do, it’s like an invisible giant kicks me in the guts.
With a piece of toast smeared with peanut butter between my teeth, I plug in my phone and fire it up.
Usually, a bunch of notifications wouldpingin quick succession, but since I disabled them all, there’s only one.
It’s a voicemail, sent sometime yesterday.I press play and bring the phone to my ear.
The second I hear her voice, my eyes close and my heart starts pounding.
She doesn’t sound mad… or in love with some frat boy named Steve.
Chloe’s voice is warm, but sad, and she says she misses me.
As I set the phone down, a torrent of conflicting emotions presses on my temples.
In a way, it’d almost be easier if she’d left a message calling me an asshole for leaving so quickly.
Now, I still feel like shit, but almost worse than before.
Everything between us feels so unfinished and abandoned… like a mistake that’s being made in slow-motion.
I shake off the doom and gloom.Surely Chloe and I just need a bit of time to forget each other.In the grand scheme of things, we were only together for the blink of an eye.
Is that what we were?Together?
Not officially.But that doesn’t mean we weren’t in every sense of the word.
Once I’ve finished my toast and fired up the coffee machine with some dark roast I’d stashed in the freezer, I swallow a fluttery ball of nerves and call Chloe back.
It rings five times, then goes to voicemail.“Hi, this is Chloe.I’m chasing waves or coffee.Leave a message!”
Shit—do I leave one?
BEEP.
