Page 20 of This Beautiful Lie
Me:Please don’t come over. I’m already in bed.
John:Liar.
He knew me too well.
Me:I’m fine. Promise. Please…
There was a long pause before another text came.
John:We’re having a barbecue at Jake’s tomorrow. Come.
Not a request.
An order.
I stared at the screen, my thumbs aching to type out something rebellious, but I didn’t dare.
Me:Okay.
John:Promise?
I inhaled deeply, and my chin began to wobble with emotion I’d been bottling up for far too long.
Me:I promise.
Seven
“Just do it,”I whispered to myself. “Just open the door, get out of the goddamn car, and go inside.”
Easier said than done.
I had told myself the same thing five minutes ago. Yet there I sat, fingers clenched around the steering wheel, my ring finger red and irritated from where I’d finally pulled the ring free in the shower.
Would they notice?
Would they care?
I hadn’t seen them in over two months… My finger was probably the last thing they would be worried about.
It was all the unanswered texts.
The phone calls I never returned.
That would be what I would have to make up for.
I’d been avoiding them like the plague, and they had every right to have questions…
Yet I still didn’t know if I had it in me to answer them.
I didn’t know if I had the right words… But I’d promised John.
I counted to three, took a deep breath, then pushed open the door and didn’t look back.
“There. That wasn’t so hard,” I said as I rushed across the pavement.
Using my newfound momentum, I walked through the front gate and directly into Jake’s yard.
It looked the same as always. Beautifully landscaped, green and lush, with flower beds that overflowed like something out of a magazine. The porch swing swayed gently in the breeze, the wind chimes tinkling just above it, soft and familiar.
