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Kevin’s mouth is agape and before I can make more of a fool of myself, I whisper, “I’m sorry,” before rushing off toward the break room. My heart beats fast in my chest and I’m unfolding from the seams. What is wrong with me? I shouldn’t have lost it out there. It was hard not to. Theo was so happy only minutes ago and then one message easily ruins his whole day. Isaac was cheating on him. Instead of rushing to collect his phone, he let Theo hold on to it all day. Did he want Theo to see those messages?
Or did he really trust him to never look at them? I bet Theo only did because his friend coaxed him into it. I’m normally against people going through others’ private property but if he didn’t Theo might have never found out otherwise. They would have gone out of state together while Isaac was secretly texting with someone else every chance he was alone.
My face heats and my ears are burning. I need to calm down. I can’t go back out there until I do.
A hand resting on my shoulder has me jumping in place and I’m ready to scream at someone.
“Shit, man, I’m sorry,” Dave, one of the other waiters says, his blue eyes paling. “I just came back here to relieve you from your shift.”
“But I still have a table to finish serving,” I say, hoping Dave doesn’t notice what a mess I am.
“They paid using the self-checkout option on the table and left.”
A heavy weight rests on my chest. “How long ago?”
Dave shrugs. “A few minutes after you came back here. Everything okay?”
I nod, straightening my back. I take off my apron and roll it up to stuff it in my back pocket. “Yeah. I got a little bad news is all. I’ll uh…see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah, see you then. Take care, man.”
Forcing a smile his way, I hurry toward one of the registers to clock out and practically run out the front doors. My pulse beats louder in my ears the longer I search around the parking lot, not finding Theo’s car.
He’s gone. Sinking into myself, I walk to my car and my phone pings as I turn the key in the ignition.
Theo: I’m okay, I promise.
Me: Want me to come over?
Minutes pass as I watch the clock. Two…five…ten. He hasn’t answered and the stabbing in my chest feels like sharp pins are being shoved in one by one.
If he can’t come to me now when he’s hurting the most, will he ever?
My phone is still free of new messages by the time I reach the house. Deciding to give him the time he needs, I only glance toward his house once before entering mine.
Eight
Theo
Kevin follows me home, not convinced I’m okay when we leave the restaurant in a hurry. Finn was thinking with his anger and lost control. I don’t know what I’ll tell Isaac. He can’t know it was Finn who broke his phone. Finn was only guilty of doing what I wanted to do.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?” Kevin stands in front of me, his eyes full of sympathy and pity. I hate it. Finn wouldn’t look at me this way. I’d never felt like a pathetic mess once when staring into his eyes. Meeting my friend’s gaze here and now, it’s exactly how I feel.
“Yeah. I need to handle this on my own. I’m still going to go over and confront him about it all.” I pinch between my brows. “Oh heck.” What about our plans to go to Lake Tahoe? I was really looking forward to going. Not only has my relationship ended, so have my plans of visiting a place I’ve wanted to visit for a long time but never had the courage to visit alone.
“What?” Kevin’s eyes round and his fingers wrap around mine. “What is it, hun?”
“The trip. The one Isaac set up for us.”
He squeezes my hand. “You can always go without him.”
“I can’t. You know I don’t care to travel alone.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“Really?” My voice perks up.
“Yeah. It sounds fun, and I can do all my work remotely. Hopefully in front of a pool or with a cocktail.”
