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I sighed, wishing I’d grabbed my latte on the way out the door just for something to do to stall. Wandering down the alleyway, my army of composure gradually congregated inside my chest, one ounce at a time.
“Noel, is Ericthere?!”
When she didn’t bother to break the ensuing silence, and my feet finally found the sidewalk that bordered the harbor, I blew out a heavy breath. “Yeah, babe. He is.”
“How?!” She croaked. “We moved you thousands of miles away to a town nobody knows the name of unless they have family there.”
“You know, I didn’t bother asking. The man gets what he wants, evidently.”
“Why are you being so calm about this?”
“Because I refuse to give him another ounce of my energy.”
“Okay, I can admire that, but…babe, just come home. The whole point was to get you away from him.”
“You think I don’t know that? But…Brin deserves to bond with Giddy, so I’m not going anywhere.”
“So you just—what?—indulge this fucked up game of his?”
Ew, god it sounded wretched when she said it like that. I wrinkled my nose. Slowly making my way down towards the dock, I said, “Look, Brex. He’s a schmuck. But he’ll get bored, he’ll go home. All of this will be over.”
“What is that douche nozzle even doing?”
“I don’t know, he has to be bored out of his mind here. No midnight takeout–”
“I meant right now?” She said, anger setting her jaw tight, a stress v appearing between her eyes. “Like, what the hell was the point of going up there?”
“Convincing me to come back home, oddly enough.” The metal ramp thundered under my rubber boots as I let gravity yank me down the path.
“Noel, he scares me. This whole thing—getting the charge dropped,spinning it to the media? He’s scary, babe.”
“Don’t I know it.”
“This isn’t funny.”
“I’m not trying to make it funny, but like hell am I going to drag my boots around afraid of him, either.” Like I wasn’t painfully aware thewhat the fuckscale in this situation was terrifyingly skewed in his favor. But I’d made the mistake of giving the man two years of my life, and way too many pieces of me, and I certainly wouldn’t be giving up another. I told Rhyett I’d look after Grizzly Grind while Brin was recuperating and bonding with baby Wright, and I felt…settled here. Especially with Elora showing me the town, dragging me to yoga and up mountains and to coffee shops. She was like a walking Mistyvale Zagat guide.
“It’s not safe—you being all alone up there.”
“I’m not alone, hun. You saw to that.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Rhyett hasn’t talked to anybody?” Byanybody, I absolutely meant Jameson. Though I’m sure Axel or Elora or Broderick or any of my other self-appointed babysitters would have worked just as well. She shook her head, and I closed my eyes, dragging down a breath and praying for patience. Why in the hell hadn’t they talked? Choosing my words carefully, I said, “I’m staying next door.”
Her brow furrowed, expression shifting from fear to utter confusion. Honestly, same, girl, same.
“Wait,Jameson’snext door? I’m assuming you’re not over at the Jenkins’.”
“Look at you, meeting all the neighbors and shit.” Bringing my hand up to my heart, I sighed, “Makes me so proud.”
“Noel,” she scolded, earning a laugh.
“Yes, Brex, over at Jameson’s.”
Her silence was positively deafening.
“What?” I demanded.
