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Hailey can deny it all she wants, but she and I are alike in this one way. She hates the silence as much as I do, or at least she started to after her parents announced their divorce.
“Answer me,” she fumes at my back, her anxiety winning out. And I swear if I didn’t know better, I hear a foot stomp thrown in too.
I toss a pillow back onto the mostly made couch.
“Finn Casper, if you ever want to see your son, you will answer me.”
This has me whipping around and eating up the distance between us with fervor. “Is that a threat?” I ask, deadly serious, needing clarification.
…She better tread lightly.
Hailey Williams took my voice away once, but she damn sure isn’t going to this round, not when it comes to Aiden.
Her eyes are twin burning flames. They match mine perfectly.
The flatness of her lips curls, turning less sour the more air she lets in. Calming her somewhat while I stay lit like a flame to its candle.
“That didn’t come out correctly,” she states as if that rectifies everything. “Let’s start over. Try again.” She’s rambling in her distress. “How about we meet up for lunch or something?”
“Can’t. I’m giving my goldfish a perm that day.” I tell her pleasantly.
Her mouth droops. “I never said when.”
How isn’t she getting it? I want nothing to do with her. Period. I only tolerate her because of our son. Other than that, she’s nothing…further than that, she’s a nobody.
What she did is unforgivable. Simple as that.
With careful, measured movements I hand her Aiden’s bag again after she’d set it down to what, help?
“Let me make it clear…” Since she seems to have trouble understanding this. “Unless it directly involves Aiden, I won’t be there. We aren’t friends. Any hopes you have of trying to bribe me in the future”—I shove one of the straps to her shoulder to further drive my point—“choke on them.”
Screw her for attempting to bribe me with one of the things from our past we shared by using it against me now. Food and trying new places and restaurants were always something we enjoyed together.
I leave. Like everything else, she’s now ruined this for me as well.
In my reprieve, I go on the hunt to find my son. Telling Aiden good night is more important to me than staying and seeing her reaction.
Hailey taught me that every second counts because with her, I’ll never know how many I have left. I could wake up tomorrow and find Aiden’s been stolen from me again.
twenty
Hailey
“It’llgeteasier,”Iencourage, watching as Rory shakes out her wrist. “You just have to build up the muscles more.”
Her eyes slide over to mine, unconvinced. Also, annoyance, definitely a bit of that in there that I’ve purposefully ignored the entire session.
The familiar grainy softness between my bare toes is like stepping away from home as we move off the sandy court for the day.
“I guess,” Rory bites out. She flexes her hand at the knuckles before I hand over a water bottle and we find a seat.
The redness and strain along her thumb lines are not uncommon for someone newer to the sport. Hitting a volleyball over and over for the last hour and a half will do that.
“You’re using the right technique, but you’re clenching too tight,” I add after taking my own much-earned drink. “You’re putting extra stress on your limbs.”
“Why did I agree to this again?”
I flip a finger up. “One, because you love me.” I lift another with similar zest. “And two, you owe me.” Not so subtly reminding her that she’s the one who basically tied my arm behind my spine to get me to come back here.
