Maybe This Time(47)

“You only ever see me at events.”

“There was that one time Micah and I saw you at the movies.”

I nodded, remembering our brief interaction; I’d been taking Gunnar to see the latest superhero flick and had bumped into Micah and Andrew in the lobby.

“Was I wearing a skirt?” I asked.

“You were.”

“Huh. Good thing I have killer legs,” I said, lifting one up.

“You do.” His eyes went to my foot and narrowed in on something there. “It made a pretty good scar.”

“Excuse me?”

He grabbed my foot and ran a finger along the middle. “The glass.”

I pulled my foot away as a zing went up my leg. “You’ve touched my feet entirely more than anyone should have to.”

“Very true.”

“Hello! Are you guys over here?” Micah yelled out. She was standing at the entrance to the parking lot, waving. “Let’s go home!”

I reached forward to grab my shoes and Andrew must’ve leaned forward to stand up because suddenly we were shoulder to shoulder, his face inches from mine.

“Sorry,” he breathed. “Go ahead.”

I stood quickly. “We’re up here!”

Micah ran up the stairs to the slide, then plopped down between us, pulling us both back down to sitting with her. There definitely wasn’t room for all three of us.

“What have you been up to?” Andrew asked in a teasing voice.

“Oh, you know …” Micah said. “I ran into Joseph.”

“Joseph?” I asked in surprise. “Andrew said you were talking to Lance.”

“I was, but then Joseph came and we had a nice talk.”

I sighed in frustration. “You just need to give Lance another chance already,” I said.

Micah’s brows dipped down. “What? Why would I do that? We’re not … I’m not … Lance wants to go away to college,” she said matter-of-factly.

“And?” I asked.

“And long-distance relationships never work.” She looked between Andrew and me as if that statement was for us. She really was delusional if she thought that applied to us. “What have you guys been doing?” she asked.

Andrew looked at me, a challenge in his eyes. He probably wanted me to tell Micah what had just happened with Kyle and Jodi. But I didn’t want to talk about it anymore than I already had. It was over.

“Sophie needs to bare her soul,” Andrew said.

“I do not.” I didn’t appreciate his prying. I met his challenging glare, grabbed hold of the bar above the twirly slide, and sent myself sliding down.

Micah laughed and followed after me. Andrew took the stairs. Micah hooked one arm in Andrew’s elbow and one in mine as we headed back toward the van.

“I didn’t get to try your dad’s salad today,” Micah told Andrew. “It was gone by the time I went to get a plate.”

“It’s a good salad,” Andrew responded.

“Plus, like four people brought hash-brown casserole,” I said. “So there wasn’t much variety.”

A sleek black car that had become familiar to me by now screeched around the corner and stopped next to us on the street. Jett Hart climbed out of it and slammed the door behind him, fire in his eyes.





Where is your phone?” was the first thing Jett barked at Andrew.

Andrew pointed to the flower van. “I left it in there.”

“I asked you to deliver a dish and our sympathy, not to stay and hang with the locals.”

Micah and I exchanged a glance.

“I’m sorry, I thought I should attend the funeral,” Andrew said in a quiet voice.

“Of a stranger?” Jett snapped.

“He wasn’t exactly—” Andrew started but was interrupted by the more powerful voice of his father.

“I have been trying to get ahold of you for over an hour. This total lack of regard for anyone but yourself is wearing on me, Andrew.”

“He just told you he went to a funeral. How is that selfish?” Once it was out of my mouth, I realized I should’ve kept it in there. This was not my battle, not anywhere close to it, but suddenly I’d just made it that.

Jett’s angry eyes turned on me. “Did I ask for your opinion?”

“When I see someone in the wrong, I give my opinion without it being asked for.” Great, there was no controlling my tongue now; it had a mind of its own. Micah nudged me.

“Andrew,” Jett said, obviously choosing to ignore me and my unasked-for opinion. “Gather your things and be home in thirty minutes.” With that, Jett got into the car and drove off.

I wasn’t sure why Jett had left without Andrew. Maybe my pushback threw him off. Maybe he didn’t want to ride in the same car as his now-seething son.

Silence stretched between the three of us until finally Andrew said, “Why did you do that?”

“Me?” I asked, when I realized I was the only person he could be talking to. Micah had remained silent through the whole encounter.

I looked at Andrew. I’d thought he was angry at his dad. But he was angry at me? “Because you weren’t saying anything. You were just letting him walk all over you, like normal.”