Veer (Clayton Falls) (32 page)

By the time I woke up the next morning
,
she was already packing up her stuff.

“Hey, leaving without me?” I rolled over
,
watching her pack.

She smiled
,
but it seemed forced. “No, I just want to make sure we can leave right after breakfast. I’d love to have some time at home today.”

“Okay… I’ll get up.”

“Good. Okay, I’ll see you downstairs.” She headed to the door.

“Wait. Don’t I at least get a kiss good morning?”

She walked back over to the bed and kissed me on the cheek.

“Nuh uh, you can do better than that.” I grabbed her around the waist to pull her down next to me. Usually this would have her squealing with laugher
.
I
nstead
,
she went stone still and just looked at me.

I kissed her
,
but she was obviously not into it
,
so I stopped. I hoped
i
t wa
s just anxiety to get back home, but I wasn’t sure.

Thanks to
Becca’s insistence
,
we
got
an early start,
and
we were back in
Clayton Falls
by
mid
afternoon. I figured it was a good thing
. W
e’d
finally
be able to spend some time alone. As I
turned the
corner
toward the
Mathews’s
house
,
I decided to ask her
the question
I’d been mulling over all weekend.

“I was thinking that it might be nice if you didn’t have to always run your stuff back and forth.”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“We only have a few more weeks before you leave
,
and I’d rather not spend nights apart just because you don’t want to worry about having the right stuff with you or anything. Wouldn’t it be
better
to have everything at my place?”

“It’s just a few weeks…there’s no reason to change things.” She looked away from me.

I pulled up along the curb. “Becca, I want you to. Don’t you want to?”

“I can’t do this.”

“Do what? Move your stuff?”

“This. It’s moving way too fast, which is dumb since I’m leaving.”

“What’s too fast?”

“You asking me to move in
,
or whatever.”

“I just thought it would be fun. We only have a few weeks seeing each other
every day
. L
et’s make the most of it.”

“Is that all it is?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I let the engine idle.

“I’m not what you’re looking for. I don’t just want to be someone’s wife and give up my life.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me
. D
on’t play dumb.”

I could feel my temper flaring
,
and I snapped. “I don’t recall asking you to be my wife.”

She looked like
I’d slapped her
.

“Let’s end this while we’re ahead
. I
t wouldn’t have worked out anyway,” she said coldly.

“What the hell?” I slammed my han
ds on the steering wheel. “What’s
going on?”

“I have dreams, Gavin
,
and just because you don’t want to follow yours
,
doesn’t mean I should
n’t
follow mine.”
She stared down at her hands as she said it, unwilling to even meet my eye.

“Oh, so I’m somehow inferior to you because I’m actually happy with my life?”

“Not inferior, just different. T
o
o different from me. If you
’
r
e
happy spending your life as a cop in freaking Mayberry
,
that’s fine with me, but I need to get back to the real world.”
She opened her door and got out
,
but I couldn’t move. I just sat there as she pulled out her bag from the back and slammed the door.

She glanced back at me once before walking up the driveway
,
but I didn’t
leave
. I don’t think I
moved
for twenty minutes. I couldn’t process what had just happened. She’d dumped me on the grounds that I was somehow not good enough for her. I only had one word for her in that moment and it wasn’t one I was proud to say.

I drove home, stopping by Tom’s house to pick up Max.

“Hey
,
man, how was the weekend?”
Tom
asked when he opened the door.

“Don’t ask,” I barked, pushing inside past him. “Where is he?”

“Out back. Are you okay?”

“Okay? No
,
that’s not the right word. I’m going to get my damn dog and go home.”

“What happened
?
” Kelly walked into the room with Max on her tail.

“Nothing, nothing fucking happened.”

“Hey, don’t talk to Kelly that way.”

“I was just leaving
. T
hanks for watching him.” I opened the front door knowing Max would follow. I didn’t bother waiting to get his stuff
.
I had extras of everything at home.

I gunned the engine pulling out of
the
driveway
.
I didn’t
want to watch
Tom and his wife, while I was once again the sorry loser with no one.

Part of me still couldn’t believe we’d just had that fight
,
and
I
half expected to see
Becca
sitting on my front step when I pulled in. My steps were empty. I went inside and poured myself a drink. What the hell had just happened? How had our conversation
gone
from her moving in to her breaking it off?

Hours later
,
I calmed down
enough
to realize that something had to have happened in Augusta, but there was nothing I could do if she wouldn’t talk to me about it. No, this wasn’t my fault
. S
he was the one who’d have to apologize if we were ever getting over it. But I knew the chances of that were doubtful
,
especially with her leaving so soon. I thought about taking a ride over to Gill’s
,
but Ronny would probably be there
.
I couldn’t handle him gloating.

I hadn’t felt so low in a long time—not since Dawn left. I stayed away from northern girls for a reason.

Chapter
Thirty-One

Becca

I
felt like I’d been kicked in the stomach
,
even though I was the one who made the decision to end it. I had already decided
to let our relationship fade out when I left
, but I
’d
planned to enjoy the last few weeks we had
. T
hen he
’d
asked me to move in. It scared me
. I
t would just make leaving harder. When I tried to explain it
,
Gavin reminded me that he hadn’t proposed
, and
it just confused me more. I didn’t know what terrified me more
:
Gavin wanting to move things forward or him deciding he was done with me. I don’t know what came over me
,
but cruel words flew out of my mouth
.
I pretty much called him a loser. I should have taken it back or tried to apologize
,
but I couldn’t. The expression on his face let me know it was too late. I just got out of the car and walked away.

I didn’t sleep at all that nig
ht and dragged myself into work
in the morning
.

“Hi
,
Becca
. H
ow was your weekend
?
You
went home with Gavin
,
didn’t you?”
t
he older Mr. Morgan greeted me.

“It was fine
. T
hanks for asking.”

“Would it be okay if we had a talk? This
is your last full week of work
.”

Here it came—the evaluation.

I followed Jim into his office where Matt already
sat
. He smiled at me as I took a seat in the chair next to him.

“We’ve both been very impressed with your work this summer
,
Becca. You’ve handled everything professionally and we’re prepared to offer you a position here if it’s something you’re interested in.”

Was he really offering me a job? Obviously
,
there was no way I was taking it
,
but it was still cool.

“But, I also realize that you are more interested in other areas of the law
,
and I happen to know of a posit
i
on that might be a better fit.”

“Really?”

“I’m not sure if you know it, but I went to law school with the DA in
New Hanover
County
.”

“Really?” Now this was getting interesting.

“I know they have positions to fill next year
,
and I would be happy to put in a good word for you if you’d be willing to relocate down here. I’m not sure if you have any other reasons to move…” I knew he was talking about Gavin
,
and I tried to ignore the pang I felt just thinking about him.

“Wow. Thank you. That’s really
something to think about it.”

“You do that, and let me know, okay?”

“Definitely, thank you
so much
.” At least something positive was coming out of the summer.
“I really appreciate you giving me the opportunity to work for you this summer
. I
t’s been a wonderful experience.
”

“It was our
pleasure, and I hope this won’t be the last we see of you.”

I smiled.
“I’ll definitely let you know what I decide about the job.”
Just thinking about coming back to visit Clayton Falls depressed me. Now that Gavin and I had broken
up, the chance of that was zero even if I did take a job in Wilmington.

***

I let my phone go to voicemail three times before I finally picked up.
“What’s going on?”
t
he voice on the other end of the phone demanded.
I hadn’t
recognize
d
the number and was a little shocked by the reception.

“Who is this?”

“It’s Brody, and I really wish someone would fill me in here.”

“Brody? How’d you get my number?”

“You gave it to my m
om, remember?”

“Oh.”

“Oh? I really want to give you the benefit of the doubt here, but all I know is that somehow in the few days since you guys left
,
you’ve managed to dump my brother.”

“Yeah. I messed up.”

“Messed up? So you didn’t mean to? I’m really not getting it.”

“I got scared and said things I didn’t mean.”

“Then go apologize
. H
e’s miserable
,
and you don’t sound so great yourself.”

“Does he know you’re calling me?
”

“Of course not. This is about what we talked about
,
isn’t it?”

“It started off that way.”

“What do you want? I think
,
in the end
,
that’s what you have to figure out.”

I could not believe I was being lectured on relationships by my e
x-boyfriend
’
s younger
brother
.

“I want Gavin. I can’t stop thinking about him.”

“Then tell him. He wants you too. You’re both just being stubborn idiots.”

“I can’t face him.”

“Sure
,
you can.
C
all him
,
or hell
,
write him a letter for all I care
. J
ust do something. If you don’t
,
I’m coming there myself.”