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“I don’t want to hear it!” she yelled. “You stood me up, Michael! I waited for you for three hours! Three hours of just sitting around, hoping you would show up.”
“I’m sorry, I—”
“Your apologies don’t mean anything,” Julie said. Her anger was still written all over her face, but buried deep down was something else. Something worse. She was heartbroken, and it was all my fault.
“I never meant to—”
“It doesn’t matter!” she yelled. “Just get out of here. I don’t ever want to see you again.”
“You don’t mean that,” I said. “When I tell you what—”
“You don’t get to tell me anything anymore,” Julie said. “I’ve heard enough from you. You lied to me. You let me fall for you. You slept with me! All while keeping a huge secret from me!”
“That was—”
“And I forgave you!” Julie snapped. “For all of that, I forgave you. I wanted us to make things work. I was so excited to see you, to celebrate Christmas with you. I couldn’t wait to be with you again. I spent all those days missing you and being miserable. And for what? Just so I could be stood up and made a fool of?”
“You aren’t a fool—”
“You’re damn right,” Julie said. “I’m not. Which is why I will never give you another chance. I will never see you again. I will never talk to you again.”
“Julie—”
“No.” Julie shook her head in disgust. “I’m done.”
She slammed the door in my face and stomped away. I stood frozen on her doorstep, just staring through the glass and hoping she would come back. After a few minutes, I raised my fist to knock, but it was no use. Before I even touched the door, I dropped my hand and turned around.
My chest felt heavy as I slowly climbed into my car. I turned on the car but didn’t pull away. Instead, I stared up at Julie’s house. I wanted nothing more than to run inside and force her to listen to me. She still didn’t know the truth. She still didn’t know about Josh.
And yet, I knew I had to leave. The look on Julie’s face told me everything I needed to know. She was done with me. Forever.
I drove home in a fog. My body and my mind were both wrecked. After almost losing my brother, meeting my biological mother, and losing Julie, I was fried. I fell into bed and let the exhaustion consume me.
CHAPTER 31
Julie
A few days went by with no word from Michael. Part of me was glad he took me seriously and stayed away. I couldn’t stand the idea of seeing him again. Just thinking about him was enough to reduce me to an angry puddle of emotions. Tears sprang into my eyes with little to no inducement and, soon, the only thing that could take my mind off him was work.
I threw myself into my writing. My boss sent me three assignments, and I finished them in as many days. Being unable to sleep helped my writing more than anything. I even sat down and knocked out a few more chapters of my book. When I wasn’t writing, I was taking long walks around town just for something to do. Anything that would keep my mind off Michael.
I sent off my last assignment on Friday night and decided to watch a movie. My couch had never felt more comfortable as I curled into a ball and pulled a blanket over myself. I watched two movies, barely paying attention to either one. Still, I kept my eyes glued to the T.V. It wasn’t until my phone rang that I looked away.
When I looked at my phone, I saw a random number flashing on the screen. With a frown, I tried to think if I’d seen it before. I hadn’t. I thought about ignoring it, but I was afraid it might be Andrea or my parents calling from a different number.
“Hello?” I asked, putting the phone to my ear.
“Julie, it’s me. Joshua. Don’t hang up, okay?”
I froze. Joshua’s voice was the last thing I expected to hear when I answered the phone. I considered the possibility that it might be Michael, calling from an unknown number to trick me into answering. His brother never crossed my mind.
“Joshua,” I said slowly. “Why are you calling from a weird number? Actually, why are you calling at all? I don’t have anything to say to you.”
“I know,” Joshua said with a sigh. “And I don’t blame you for that. I’ve been a total dick lately.”
“I won’t argue with that,” I said.
Joshua sighed again, and I pushed myself off the couch. If I was going to talk to him, I couldn’t sit still. I paced around my living room, waiting for him to explain himself.
