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But I don’t need details.
Those ten digits are etched into my brain like my middle name, my birthdate, my address. They’re the digits I plugged into my very first phone. The same digits I scribble next toemergency contactevery time I fill out a form. The one way I can always reach my dad.
My heart stumbles. Trips. Goes down. The fall is ugly.
I don’t know what to process first. That Vi hasn’t been sleeping in our room because she’s been sleeping in Dad’s—at my house. Or that while he never has time for me, he’s not too busy for a booty call. Or that after the way he loved Mom in the diary, he’s so easily replacing her with Vi.
“Do you see my lime Gucci pumps?” Vi yells through the door. “The suede pair with the laces?”
I fumble with the phone, almost dropping it multiple times before I toss it on her bed.
The bathroom door opens. “My shoes?” It takes half a glance at my face for her to say, “You look sick.”
I feel sick. So sick every word I own dies in my throat.
The back of her hand lands on my forehead.
I stumble into the wall, hugging myself like maybe my arms can keep the terrible ache inside me from tumbling out.
“What’s the matter with you?” Irritation flares in her eyes.
“My toe hurts,” I mumble.
“Soak it, and take some Ibuprofen.” She picks up her phone and her purse. “You’re at my table for the luncheon. See you in a half hour.” Hiking her bag over her shoulder, she heads into the hall.
The second the door clicks behind her, I scramble to the toilet, lift the lid, and lose every single bite of the garlic bagel Gabe bought me this morning.
chapter 24
Gabe
“Only do the hard thing if you have to.”
~ Meredith Morgan
(played by the award-winning Meredith Wade)
Raising Ryder: Episode: 88
The longer Coley stretches out the silence in my hotel room, the faster my chest caves. Too stubborn to back down on her ultimatum, there’s only two other reasons she’d come. I cross the room and sit next to her on my bed. “David sent you.” That’s the reason I’m gunning for.
“No. But he called the hotel so they’d let me in your room.”
Which leaves the second reason. “Something happened with Mom.” My chest goes claustrophobic.
Coley pushes her fingers into the baggy front pockets of her skinny jeans.
“Have you been eating?” I should’ve asked at The Oasis.
“Have you been drinking?” She waves a hand at the two bottles of Fireball decorating the top of the tall armoire.
“No.” But it’s starting to feel like a bang-up plan.
“Your lips are trending on TMZ. You couldn’t keep them to yourself for a week? You’re supposed to be here for Mom. Not screwing around with fangirls—”
“Jess isn’t a fangirl.” I rub my forehead. “What happened wasn’t her fault.”
“I know whose fault it is, Gabe.” She pushes off the bed to stand by the window. “You should stay away from her. David says she’s too nice for you.”
