Almost Midnight (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3.5)(98)

Cary was in the little office in the back of the classroom on his laptop. He looked up with a big smile on his face. His emotions were so opposite of hers that it felt awkward. Or would be when she spilled her guts.

“You aren’t going to believe this.” Passion sparkled in his green eyes.

“What?” she asked, pushing her issues aside, guessing his excitement was something about history. And for the first time, she resented it just a little.

“Remember I told you that there were about five of my friends who wanted to go to Europe for six weeks but it was canceled because it was going to be too expensive? Well one girl has found a group deal and now it’s back on for the summer.”

“This summer?” she asked, trying not to sound devastated, but wasn’t this summer supposed to be about them? She waited, wondering if he was going to say: And I want you to come with me. It would be hard financially, but maybe if she got the gig at the gallery and sold …

“The flight leaves the day after school is out, so I won’t even have to miss work. Isn’t that fantastic?”

She nodded. “Yeah, that’s … I thought we were going to spend some time together this summer.”

“We will when I get back,” he said.

She pulled in air, pushing her resentment away, and nodded. This was Cary’s passion, the last thing she wanted was to become a clingy girlfriend who resented his hobbies and wanted his world to only focus on her.

Just because he wasn’t as excited as she was about moving their relationship forward, didn’t mean anything. Well, it did, and it stung, but it wasn’t a deal breaker.

Was it?

“Look at the pictures of the place she’s found for us to stay.” He pointed to his screen.

She sat down in the second chair and stared at the images of the apartment, trying to get the pictures of her dad out of her mind. Blinking again, she focused on the screen. It was just an apartment, nothing special, but she still said, “That’s nice.”

“Are you wet?” he asked, staring at her hair.

She nodded.

“How did you…?”

Her mind raced, her heart still breaking. Could she tell Cary? She wanted to, but where to start? “I … was working in the workshop when Kylie came and got me. Holiday had…”

“Workshop?” he asked. “Doing what?”

“I design and make jewelry,” she said, but the thrill of what she did felt buried beneath the grief. Hidden beneath the memories of her past. Painful recollections that she wanted to disown.

He looked confused. “You string beads?”

Ouch! “No. I … some of them might have beads, but I do it with metal and wire. I weld pieces and I use silver a lot.”

“Oh.” He looked confused. “So what does that have to do with you being wet?”

“I … was just starting at the beginning.”

“The beginning of what?”

“Of what happened.” Her chest tightened. Why did she feel insignificant right now? As if what she had to say wasn’t important.

“What happened?” He looked at her hair. “It’s not raining.”

“No, I … went to the falls.”

“The falls?” he asked. “That freaky place on the property?”

She nodded and wished this was easier.

“Why would you go there?”

“I was…” called, but she didn’t want to say it. It wasn’t important. And suddenly what was important bubbled to the surface and she swallowed to keep her tears back. “My dad died.”

Cary’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry. But wasn’t…?” He raked a hand through his hair. “I thought your dad was already dead?”

She had halfway thought that, too, but she couldn’t remember telling him. “No.”

“But you said something about growing up with Lucas’s pack, so I just thought that meant your parents were dead.”

“No,” she said. And for some crazy reason her mind and heart gathered up all the details she knew about his parents. They lived in Dallas. His dad was a professor. His mom was a part-time nurse. He had one sister and she was going to college to be an accountant. That’s when it hit. She knew these things not because he’d told her, but because she’d asked.

He hadn’t asked.

He continued to stare at her. “But you aren’t close to him, are you?”

Her sinuses stung. “I haven’t seen him in eight years.” She swallowed that pain and it lumped together with all the other knots of regret.

“So I guess it’s not … that big of a deal, huh?”

His words just sort of hung in the air, heavy. She tried to push back how hurtful those words sounded, but like the lump in her throat, it wasn’t moving.

She shot up from the chair. “It’s a bigger deal than going to Europe for six weeks.” The words almost unleashed her tears.

He stood, anger brightening his eyes. Then it faded. “I … I didn’t mean…” He brushed a few damp strands of hair off her cheek, then pulled her against his shoulder. She went, and didn’t realize how cold she was until she came against his warmth. The warmth of a were. She longed to have his arms around her. To feel comforted, to know someone cared.