Page 87 of The Way I Hate Him
I feel my brow crease. “You went up to the redwoods?”With my siblings...without me?
“Yeah, but it makes sense why you weren’t there with your friend in town.”
“I wasn’t invited,” I say, feeling embarrassed.
He adjusts his messenger bag on his shoulder and looks visibly uncomfortable. “Uh, are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“Maybe they didn’t want you to have to choose between them and your friend.”
“They didn’t know she was visiting.”
He sighs and glances down at the ground. “I really don’t want to be in the middle of this.”
“In the middle of what?” I ask. “Is there something you know that I don’t know?”
“No,” he says.
And then I stand on my toes and push my finger to his chest. “Did you tell them about who I work for?”
“No,” he says quickly. “I wouldn’t do that. You should know by now I’m not that kind of person.”
He’s right, he’s not.
“I’m sorry.” I tug on my ponytail. “I just . . . I feel like they’re pulling away, and it seems I’m not crazy in thinking that from how they didn’t invite me to the forest this weekend.” I glance back at The Almond Store and say, “Maybe I should find out.”
“Hattie,” Abel says, grabbing my hand. “Please don’t do something stupid.”
“Like what?” I ask.
“Like . . . get me involved.”
I roll my eyes and walk away.Coward. Why is he only worried about himself here?“Don’t worry, Abel, you’re safe.”
I cross the street again and head right back into The Almond Store. The customer Aubree was helping moments ago walks out with a bag. I hold the door open for her and then shut it.
When Aubree sees me, she says, “Shouldn’t you be at your internship?”
“Late start,” I say as I approach the counter. “What did you do this weekend, sis?”
No reason not to get straight to the point.
She averts her eyes to her iPad, but I slap my hand on the screen, covering it up. “I’m looking for a second of your attention. I don’t believe that’s too much to ask for.”
Her face contorts, irritation clear in her eyes. “What’s going on?”
“I’m asking you the same thing. What’s going on? Why didn’t you invite me to go to the redwoods with you this weekend? And before you ask how I know, I ran into Abel. He casually mentioned what he did this weekend when I asked him.”
“We didn’t see your car, but we saw Maggie’s in the parking lot. Thought you two were out and about, so we didn’t want to bother you.”
Oh . . .
Huh.
I guess that makes sense.
Jesus, Hattie, you’re losing it.
