Page 58 of Stolen Hearts
“He wrote to me,” I say after a beat, and stretch across the bed to grab the pages, holding them up to the screen. Kelly’s Cheshire cat grin stares back at me.
“Finally!” Kelly grabs her spoon and shovels in a mouthful of chili. “What did he say?Tell me everything!”
Her mouth widens more and her eyes well up with each paragraph I read.
I stop before reading the last line. She doesn’t need to know that part.
“That’s the most heartfelt and heart-wrenching thing I’ve ever heard,” Kelly says, wiping a tear from her eye.
Jesus.
I drop the papers and reach for my forehead, rolling my eyes underneath my hand. The way Kelly’s describing it, you’d think he’d writtenRomeo and Juliet.
Must be the pregnancy hormones.
“You’ve got to go visit him, Chris. You owe him that after he just spilled his heart out to you.”
“I’ll think about it,” I sigh.
“God, you are so stubborn, Christopher.”
“I am not.” The laptop nearly topples off my legs when I push myself upright against the headrest.
Kelly’s forehead wrinkles, the way it always does just before she’s about to lecture me.
“Remember when you wouldn’t talk to me for a whole month, just because I told dad it was you that ate his pie? Or when you wouldn’t speak to me for a week when you thought I’d stolen your watch, only to find it behind your bed? Need me to continue?” Her voice takes on a pedantic tone.
I swear, she’s turning into our mother more and more with every passing day.
“The view must be great up there on your high horse,” I snarl.
“Says the man locked away in his tower, looking down on everyone else.”
Touché.
“He deserves a response,” she says.
“Yeah, but not when he commands it.”
Right now, I just want one weekend where I can hang out with my friends and not be consumed by thoughts of him. I can have the conversation he wants when he’s out of rehab and we’re forced to spend time together in a few weeks.
A message from Jason, one of my friends from the gym, pops up on the screen.
Jason
We’ll be there in fifteen.
Damn.
I haven’t showered yet or packed my bag for our hike near Malibu Beach.
“Right, gotta go. I’m off shortly.” I push the laptop off my legs to get out of the bed.
“I don’t need to be seeing you in your boxers,” Kelly says, covering her eyes.
“And I don’t need your attitude, yet here we are.” I blow her a kiss before closing my laptop.
I grab my phone and fire off a response to Jason’s message, then quickly scroll through my unread messages while heading into the bathroom. There’s three from my mum, complaining as usual. One from Julie about Monday’s meeting. Another from Brad, confirming that Jason’s picked him up and they’re en route.
