Every Other Weekend(99)

I shook the thought away when Shelly turned, her coffee forgotten, showing me her tearstained face. “My mother refused to meet him. Did you know that? Wouldn’t let me bring him to her house. She said my father would be rolling in his grave if he could see what I’d done.”

“Why don’t you leave him?”

She started to smile, but it turned the other way. “I gave up everything for him. I lost my job, my family, and my friends. I destroyed your life, and even though I still think your mother is the queen bitch of the universe, I helped make her that way.”

“No,” I said. “You didn’t.” I don’t know why I did it—or rather, I did, but I didn’t want to think about the why. “Maybe you gave her another excuse not to hide it, but my mother has been...what she is for my entire life.”

Shelly’s perfect little mouth gaped at me. “Did you—you didn’t—”

“You’re not the reason my mother’s a miserable shrew. My dad’s not the reason.” I thought about what Adam had said to me, and I looked down when I felt my eyes prick. “I’m not the reason either.”

Somehow it all came pouring out of me, everything from those overheard fights when I was little to Mom firing Mrs. Cho because I’d made the mistake of telling her that our housekeeper loved me enough to make me a birthday cake. On and on I went, until I looked up and saw that Shelly was crying so hard that she couldn’t lift her hands to cover her face.

I had to get out of the apartment after that. I dashed into the hall, shutting the door and Shelly behind me and...then I stopped.

Normally, I’d have gone to Adam—or, more normally, I wouldn’t have had to go to him, because we’d have already been together. But he was inside his apartment with his dad and brother, and I wanted that for him, I really did. They could come out at any moment, maybe on their way to breakfast, or to go play ice hockey together, or anything, and the last thing I wanted—apart from having to go back into my dad’s apartment and face Shelly—was risk being outside Adam’s door, like the most pathetic person who had ever lived, when they came out.

So I knocked on Guy’s instead.

He opened the door mid-yawn, but it spread into a slow smile as his gaze traveled over me. “Well, if it isn’t my little early bird. Where’s your Adam this morning?”

“He’s spending time with his dad and brother.” I tugged on my braid and tried not to look at the door behind me, the one that could conceivably open at any moment. “I thought maybe we could watch a movie.”

Guy leaned against his doorframe. “Sure you wouldn’t rather wait out here in case he changes his mind and wants to be with you?”

I felt like squirming, and I was pretty sure he knew I felt like squirming.

“’Cause, you know, playing second fiddle to a sixteen-year-old kid—not really how I like to live my life.”

“You’re not,” I said, tugging on my braid so hard that my scalp started to hurt. “I’m the one who told him to hang out with them.”

He slowly crossed his arms. “So you could hang out with me?”

Any second, any second, Adam could come out. I didn’t have time to let Guy amuse himself by jerking me around. “You know what, forget it.” I turned to walk away, but Guy darted out and caught my arm, and the pressure made me yelp.

“Hey, all I want is a yes or no and you can come in.”

“Let go of my arm, Guy.” I put enough strength into my voice that he blinked and released me. And suddenly he was all smiles.

“I was messing around, Jolene. I told you before you could always come over.” He backed up and gestured for me to enter his apartment. “I’ll even make you breakfast, and I don’t usually do that for girls unless I also bought them dinner.”

I made a face, which made Guy laugh.

“Again, I was kidding.”

“Then maybe you need to watch more comedies because...” I shook my head. “Not funny.”

Guy smiled and ducked his head. “I don’t know if I’d call it a comedy, but I did get a screener for Wes Anderson’s latest. Didn’t you say you like his hyper-stylized approach to storytelling?”

I frowned, but not in the slightly offended way I had a second ago. That was exactly what I’d said about Wes Anderson. “You remembered that?”

“Sure.” Guy lifted his gaze to mine. “You have great insight when it comes to films. You impressed me the first time we met, and I’m guessing you’re going to keep impressing me, well, if...” He turned sideways, giving me ample room to walk past him into his apartment.

I bit the inside of my cheek.

Guy held up his hands. “Look, no pressure. I’d love to know what you think of it, but if you’d rather wait, maybe go see it in the theater with...” His eyes flicked toward Adam’s door as his voice trailed off.

My throat went tight. Watching movies with Adam might not be an option anymore.

And Guy was offering me exactly what I’d asked for.

I followed him into his apartment.





Adam:

Hey.

Jolene:

Hey.

Adam:

It’s so weird being here and not seeing you.

Jolene:

I’ve been working so I guess I didn’t think about it.