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“Sorry, I just found out,” Gabriella apologizes from beside me, but I don’t know if I heard her or not over the ringing in my ears. He doesn’t know I’m here either as people approach him and hug him. The smile on his face is big, but his eyes are not as bright as when he used to smile at me. “Why don’t we just get out of here?” Gabriella whispers, but I’m stuck in this spot, my arm still halfway with my phone when he turns and our eyes meet.
CHAPTERTWENTY-NINE
stone
Iwalk up the steps to the house just as the door closes. Christopher stops the door with his foot in front of me. “Whoa,” he calls, and the door is swung back open with Uncle Matthew standing there. The smile on his face fades just a touch. “Are we not invited?” Christopher asks with a chuckle.
“Of course you guys are invited,” he assures us. For the first time in my life, I see him flustered, which means he’s up to something or someone just told him a secret, and he’s doing his best to keep it. Until he sees Uncle Max. “I didn’t know you two were coming?”
“It was a last-minute decision,” Christopher replies, hugging him. “Besides, if I had to sit in this one’s house”—he points over at me as I walk up the steps to the front door—“one more minute and watch him watch the fucking trees grow, I was going to take a fork and stick it in my eyeball.”
“Hey,” I defend, “we worked out too.” Christopher glares at me before he walks into the house.
“Surprise,” I say softly, going in for a hug.
“Yeah, Stone—” he says, and I hold up my hand.
“I know, I know. I didn’t call you back.” I take a deep breath and run my hands through my hair before I put them in my back pockets. “It’s just.” I shrug, not wanting to bring Ryleigh up.
Fuck, for a whole month, I’ve been fighting with myself to call her or get on a flight and go to her. I can honestly say I’ve never been more devastated in my whole life. “In other news, I got the vacation plans.” I take one hand out and slap him on his arm. “Count me in.”
I turn to walk into the house when he calls my name again. “Stone.” I look over my shoulder at him. His eyes are worried, but I don’t have a chance to answer him before my mother is in front of me.
“This is a surprise,” she says, hugging my waist as I wrap my arm around her shoulders.
“Christopher made me come,” I admit before my aunt Zoe comes over to me, giving me a hug and a kiss. I smile at her. “Hey.” She reaches up to touch my cheek, and I make the mistake of looking up.
My eyes lock with the ones that have haunted my dreams for the past month. The eyes I search for every single night before I go to bed. The eyes I look for in crowds. The eyes that are the key to my soul. She stands there in as much shock as I’m in, her arm midair with her phone in it. I take her in. Her eyes look tired, and my fingers literally tingle to touch her face. Her mouth opens in an O as she stares at me. Gabriella is beside her saying something to her, but her eyes are on me. I spot her father and mother moving to stand beside her. Romeo stands behind them. The glare on his face is directed solely at me, and I have no problem with that. I also know that before the end of the day, we’ll have words. The room bursting with noise two seconds ago is now so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
“I think the food is ready,” My uncle Matthew’s voice booms out, and even he’s a little surprised with how loud he is. “Let’s go eat.” He nods to Tyler, who does a chin up to him before turning and taking Ryleigh away from me. He puts his arm around her shoulders as they make their way with everyone else toward the kitchen. My heart contracts in my chest as she gets farther and farther away from me. The talking slowly starts up again.
“Son, you going to be okay?” my father whispers from beside me, and it feels like my knees are going to give out.
“Yeah,” I answer, taking a deep breath in and looking up to see Christopher standing there watching me while his mom talks to him. One ear is on their conversation, another on making sure I’m okay. My uncles Max, Viktor, and Justin hang with my cousins Cooper, Michael, and Dylan, who are also around, pretending they are having a conversation, but in reality, everyone is making sure I’m okay. “I need a second.”
I look at my Uncle Matthew. “I tried to warn you.”
“It’s fine,” I say. “I just need a second.”
“I’ll wait here,” my father says.
“There is no need for that, Dad,” I try to reassure him. “I’m fine. It’ll be okay.”
He looks into my eyes. “I’ll wait here,” he repeats, and all I do is nod. My throat feels like a golf ball is stuck right in the middle.
I walk down the hallway toward the bathroom, closing the door behind me, before putting my head back and closing my eyes. “What the fuck is she doing here?” I rub my hand over my face before pushing away from the door and going to the sink. I turn on the cold-water faucet and lean both hands on the counter, my head hanging down. I knew I would one day have to see her. I knew one day this would come. I just didn’t think it would be this soon.
The moment I saw her, I felt like my heart was ripped out of my chest. It was empty and hollow, yet at the same time my heart felt like it started beating again.
The minute I hung up the phone with her, I trashed my phone. I took a day before I called my father. It took him less than four hours to be at my house, just him. He sat with me, watching television, pretending that I didn’t lose the love of my life. He stayed for two weeks, and my mother joined him after two days. They rode the rest of the season out with me until I kicked them both out. We had to get back to our routines. It was time to face the reality of it.
When Christopher came down to spend a couple of days, I could tell he was also going through something, but neither of us brought anything up. Instead, we hit the gym twice a day, skated for hours each day, and just pretended it was all okay.
I fill my hands up with water, splashing my face twice, then grab a white towel and dab my cheeks. “It’s going to be okay,” I say to my reflection. Opening the door, I walk out and spot my father waiting for me.
“You okay?” he asks, and I stand in front of him.
“No,” I admit, “I’m not okay.”
