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“I’m so glad you came,” my mom tells Hayes. “I needed to see that you’re okay with my own eyes.”
My head drops and I press my lips together, because I know the feeling.
“You know I’d never miss Sunday dinner,” he tells her. “Thanks for moving it by one night for me. You didn’t have to, though. I would’ve come yesterday.”
“Nonsense. You needed your rest.”
Judging by their conversation, I’m guessing this is a weekly thing they do, and before I can stop myself, I comment on it. “Y-you guys do this often?”
My dad grins smugly. “Yep. We started it after Cam moved out. Gets us all together. You’d know if you had been around.”
I swallow, feeling like razor blades are sliding down my throat. This is starting to feel less like a family dinner and more like an ambush. Even Hayes glances at me for a second and there’s a hint of sympathy for a second, but it quickly vanishes.
“You be nice,” my mom says with a frown.
At least she has my back. Meanwhile, Cam is too busy putting food on his plate to even realize I need saving. Well, at least some things haven’t changed. He always has been a human garbage disposal. You’d never be able to guess that by looking at him, though.
“I’m always nice,” my dad protests with waggling brows. “Aren’t I, darlin’?”
God, I wish Mali were here right now. At least then I wouldn’t feel like I was so completely alone. But if I had the chance to leave right now, I don’t think I would. Like I said, there’s no way he didn’t see my car outside, and yet, he came inside anyway.
Even though it shouldn’t, hope swells inside my chest at that realization.
DINNER IS MOSTLY SPENTwith them talking while I push the food around my plate. Let’s just say I don’t have much of an appetite anymore, even if the smell of my mom’s cooking makes my mouth water. She tries to get me involved in the conversation, but I try not to bite. The last thing I want to do is rub my new life in Hayes’s face. Not when he’s been going through hell while I’ve been living in a mansion and working at my dream job.
It should be the other way around. I should be the one suffering while he’s living his ideal life. Not to say I haven’t had a hard time. I mean, it was months and took prescription medication before I was able to sleep through the night without Hayes by my side. But saying my problems compare to his is like saying a skinned knee is the same as a gunshot wound.
The hope he actually wanted to see me died when he started to avoid looking in my direction. There used to be a time when he couldn’t look away from me. I was the center of his attention, and I lived for it. Now, I’m nothing more than someone he used to know, and I hate it.
As soon as we finish eating, Hayes brings his things to the sink.
“Do you want help cleaning up?” he asks my mom.
She shoos him away. “The only thing I want is for you to take it easy so you can heal properly.”
He huffs out a laugh and nods. “Okay, in that case, I’m going to head home. Get some of that rest stuff you keep referring to.”
“Good!” She stops washing the dishes to give him a hug. “Please let us know if you need anything.”
“I will,” he assures her.
He comes into the living room and shakes my dad’s hand before fist bumping Cam. The two of them are watching the baseball game, and I’m guessing Hayes would normally join them, but my being here throws a wrench into his plans. His eyes land on me and both Cam and my dad watch us like a soap opera to see what happens.
“Ma’am.”
He nods at me as he passes, smirking, but not in the way I like. This smirk is more sinister, as if his words were meant to hurt me and he knows he hit his mark. My dad looks shocked while Cam cringes. I’m frozen in place, feeling like I’m about to break down but holding it back. The sound of the front door closing is my only indication that he left.
“Are you okay?” Cam asks.
I blink and a single tear escapes. “What do you think?”
He sighs, putting his beer down and standing up but the only thing going through my mind right now are the words that were said to me by two incredibly smart women today.
Fight for him.
Fucking fight for him!
Cam goes to hug me but I shake my head. “I have to…”
