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Her sigh comes from a deep place in her chest, and I watch my mom’s small figure deflate slightly. “I don’t blame you. But I sure will miss you.” My parents exchange another look. “It’s a more complicated route, but I think it’ll all work out.”
A lead weight that had been hanging around my heart since I made my final decision drops away, and I tear up for the second time since coming home. After Mom’s blow up at Charlie’s Germany invitation, I expected a lot more fight from her at the idea of me moving back to New York. The fact that she’s so accepting of my decision makes my next announcement taste all the sweat on my tongue.
“I certainly won’t miss you.” She flinches like a struck her, and I hurry to explain. “Because I’m not leaving. Well, I’m leaving your house. Sorry, but if I stay here much longer, I may end up murdering you. A loving, quick murder. But a murder all the same.”
“Wha—what are you saying? And for the sake of my heart please try to make it comprehensible.” Mom clutches her chest dramatically and watches me with hopeful eyes.
“They offered me my old job and money to move back to New York. But I’m a bigger asset to the company than they or I realized. People like me there.” My last night in New York, I met up with Marianna at her favorite speakeasy bar and received a rib-cracking hug when I told her my decision. “So, I made a counteroffer. A raise, working remotely as I had originally agreed to, and every other month I’ll fly to New York for a week to meet with my authors in-person like a few have requested. The hiring committee agreed.”
Silence reigns in the garage, except for the pulsing beat of background hip hop. Then my mom practically shatters my eardrums with a happy squeal. Without warning she wraps me in a hug that rivals Marianna’s in pure strength. Good thing I opted for casual traveling clothes because there’s no way I’m coming out of this embrace without a healthy amount of grease.
“You’re staying! She’s staying, Richard! Did you hear?” Mom sings and hops and claps as my Dad fights a growing smile.
“Yes, dear. I heard.”
“Then react, you boar!” As she continues to celebrate, my dad’s gaze connects with mine.
“Does your decision have anything to do with Dash?”
Mom’s dancing comes to an abrupt halt and silence once more falls over the garage.
All the joy that filled me at telling my parents I wasn’t leaving them drains out through my toes. What’s left is a toxic mixture of anger, betrayal, and soul pulverizing sadness.
“This hasnothingto do with Dash.” The venom in my voice shocks my parents.
At my Dad’s skeptical eyebrow raise, I feel a teaspoon amount of my anger redirect toward him. “Stop it, Dad. Don’t you say another word about him being an ex-con. I’ve made my stance clear on that, and I haven’t changed my mind. Disliking Dash because he committed a crime and paid for it is stupid. Now, disliking him because he’s an asshole is a much more viable option.”
“I could’ve sworn you cared for the boy,” Mom’s voice comes out breathy, laced with bafflement.
I snort. “I more than cared for him. That bastard got me to fall in love with him! That shit head had me opening up after Martin, and then he turns out to be just as bad. I mean”—an embarrassing hitch mars my words—“can any guy keep it in their pants? He waited aweek.” I blink rapidly at the sudden pressure of tears behind my eyes. “Or maybe not even that long, to jump into bed with another girl.”
If I had told my parents I intentionally mowed down an old lady with Penelope, I doubt they would’ve looked more shocked and upset. My father’s stern face creases deeply with his frown as his hands clench into white-knuckled fists. A fire smolders behind my mother’s eyes as she glares off to the side at the poor Corvette like it was the man hurting me. Her once bubbly voice goes eerily quiet. “What happened?”
I swipe at my eyes and clear my throat a couple of times. “When I was in New York, I called him. Some random girl with a sexy voice named Luna picked up.”
“Oh,” they say, almost in unison. At the immediate relaxing of my parents’ stances, I get the sense I’m missing something important.
“Oh? That’s all you’ve got?”
My mom shakes her head. “You think Dash is sleeping with Luna?” She asks as if she somehow knows Dash’s newest fuck buddy.
“Well, yeah. That’s what she told me.”
A loud clatter sounds from the opposite side of the garage, and I worry something heavy may have fallen on Pumpkin. That thought skitters away immediately when I glance over to find a tall figure rising from between two of the cars.
All ability to think abruptly ceases when I come face to face with the man who most recently broke my heart.
Chapter Forty-One
Dash
Luna’s foot bounces along to the beat of the music pounding through the garage. From my spot under the Corvette, I can see her from the chest down. She leans against the wheel of an Impala parked next to the vehicle I’m working on.
When my sister demanded she come with me today, I didn’t put up much of a fight. I figured Luna wouldn’t be happy until she saw the garage and what I was doing in it. Good thing I slipped a book in my bag for her to read, or else she’d be bugging me and driving me crazy, bored out of her mind.
As she lifts the reading material from her lap to flip a page, I catch sight of the bright pink cover. The idea of her reading the book and Paige’s scribbled notes makes me grin. Maybe Luna will start to see what I love so much about that awkward, amazing woman.
The music suddenly drops low enough that I can hear Mrs. Herbert moving around at her workbench. Pumpkin wanders into view, sniffing my pants then nuzzling Luna’s arm, demanding attention. My sister scratches the pit bull at the base of her thick square skull.
