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My cell beeped with a message, and I looked down at it. I let out a breath, holding her tighter. “We need to leave.”
“Just ten more seconds,” she pleaded, and I gave them to her. I’d give her anything she asked for without a doubt.
She pressed a kiss to my lips, her eyes firmly closed, and then she opened them, showing me every emotion she possibly could. Her light-brown orbs never failed to pull me in, but since we’d confessed how we felt, something was different between us. We were more secure in each other and the knowledge where we were going.
Aria had started to tell me some of the things she talked about in her sessions with Dr. Bay, and no matter how angry it made me of what she had to grow up in, I always kept my feelings to myself.
She didn’t want me to form an opinion about what had happened to her over the years and all the shitty things she’d seen, but I couldn’t help blame Jan a little. She always made out their relationship was solid, but it was all surface level. She must have known the pain Aria was in, but she’d swept it under the rug, just like everything else.
I could feel myself starting to tense the longer I thought about it, so I shook my head to try and dissipate t
he thoughts. I didn’t want to think about it, not in front of Aria.
“I love you,” I whispered, pressing one last kiss to her lips.
“I love you too.” She sighed and placed her head against my chest as my cell went off again.
Just ten more seconds.
Ten more seconds of bliss, and then we’d leave.
Chapter Sixteen
ARIA
Cade had been right. The days had flown by. From the time we dropped him off at the airport, I’d thought I’d be counting down the minutes, but I hadn’t. He’d told me to keep busy, and that was precisely what I’d done. I’d played with Belle and Asher. I ran on the track Friday after school. I helped Lola around the house on Saturday and even helped Uncle Brody while he was tinkering with his Mustang.
I did anything I could to keep my brain occupied. Anything so I wasn’t thinking. But my thoughts were starting to stir by Saturday evening, and when I woke up Sunday morning, they were in full effect. All I could think about was what would happen over the next week. Cade would be home in a few hours, and then I only had six days until Mom and Sal would be back too.
Six days until I had to tell them the truth.
Six days until I had to confess what I’d been doing to my body.
Six days until they found out my diagnosis.
“Aria?” Lola shouted outside Cade’s bedroom door. That was another thing. I’d had to sleep in his bed—alone—while I stayed here. I’d been so used to staying at his house and falling asleep with him next to me, that I found it almost impossible without him. “I’m heading out to the store with the kids to get some groceries. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
“Okay!” I shouted back, glancing down at my chemistry workbook. I’d been staring at it for the last hour and not taken in a single word. “I’m going to finish my homework.”
I heard her retreating footsteps, and soon after the sound of her car engine, and then she was gone, and I was alone. I hadn’t been alone in the house all week, and although they’d managed to keep my thoughts busy, I was grateful for the silence. I needed some space—space I was used to having when I was at home. I wasn’t used to being surrounded by people at all times of the day, not like this.
I tried to focus on my homework, and finally, with some peace and quiet, I managed to do a couple of hours. I finished up my chemistry and half of my world history assignment, but then the words all started to blur together, and nothing was making sense.
Slamming my workbook closed, I decided to take a break. I’d been holed up in Cade’s room most of the afternoon, counting down the minutes until he would be home and going over and over all the outcomes of what would happen when I told Mom and Sal everything. But I needed a rest from it all—from my thoughts.
My head dropped back, and I groaned. I couldn’t keep sitting here overthinking everything that would happen over the next week. Cade was gone. Mom and Sal were gone. I had time—time to just be me. And that was exactly what I was going to do.
I pushed off the bed and headed downstairs. The house was kind of eerie with no one else in it, but I shook off the feeling and went into the kitchen. I pulled the refrigerator door open and grabbed a yogurt, but as I was closing it, I frowned.
I’d been counting the days down, marking them off my imaginary calendar in my head…
But I’d forgotten.
I’d forgotten what day was coming up.
I’d failed to remember the date.
I’d woken up this morning and not thought twice about it. But as I stared at the calendar pinned to the refrigerator, it all came flinging back at me with so much force I stumbled.
