Page 130 of The Design of Goodbye
The break room door flung open, and Olive walked in. “Strom, there you are,” she said. “Zander said you left in the middle of ringing up a—” Her eyes widened, and she brought a hand to her mouth. “What’s wrong?”
Liam was wiping his cheeks. My stomach dropped. I’d been so upset I hadn’t noticed. His face was flushed, and there were tears in his eyes and wetness on his cheeks. How long had he been crying and I hadn’t noticed?
A shaky hand hovered in front of his mouth. “Sorry, I was—” A short, sudden breath of air left him, and he covered his mouth, panicked. He turned away from us, shoulders shaking.
He was breaking down because of me and the words I’d wrecked him with. This whole time, he’d been falling apart in front of me, and I hadn’t noticed.
My face felt hot. I struggled hard not to cry, too.
Olive went over to him. “Liam?” She placed a hand on his shoulder, but he jerked away. “What happened?”
“I want to leave.” His voice caught on a sob. He’d given up on wiping his tears away, and they were falling down his cheeks, darkening his shirt. “I need to leave.”
“That’s okay,” said Olive. “Go.”
He walked over to one of the break room lockers. He grabbed a key out of his pocket but fumbled to fit it in the lock. He was breathing in gulps of air, trying to calm himself down enough to focus.
Olive took the key from him and opened his locker. I wanted to go over to him, but I was pretty sure he didn’t want anything to do with me. It didn’t matter either; I was frozen in my spot and couldn’t get myself to move or say anything as Liam grabbed his stuff and left without another word.
When the door slammed shut, Olive turned toward me. “What happened?” she asked softly.
Tears filled my eyes, but I didn’t feel I deserved the relief crying would give me. “I was trying to get him to talk. I did and said some things...I think I really hurt him.”
Olive glanced at the door Liam had disappeared through. “I think you did, too.”
All along, Jules had been wrong. Liam hadn’t broken my heart. I’d broken his.
chapter forty-four
I was bathed in darkness. Wind burned my cheeks, and coldness had seeped into my skin long ago. I didn’t care. I hadn’t seen Liam in three days, so if waiting on his front porch was the only way I could talk to him, I’d freeze before I left.
At one in the morning, he biked up his driveway. He was looking down to avoid the wind and didn’t see me. He locked his bike on the side of his house and finally noticed me when he neared his porch.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
There were no porch lights on, so I walked down the steps to see him better. When I did, I flinched at his hollow-eyed expression. I’d causedthat.
“I’ve been worried,” I said, teeth chattering. “You haven’t been at school. I went to The Fresh Market, and Olive said she hasn’t seen or heard from you since Wednesday. And then you didn’t show up today for tutoring, and I—”
“I’m fine,” he said flatly. He shifted. “I had to work at Gary’s all day.”
I ground the heels of my boots nervously into the driveway. “Can we go inside and talk?”
His expression hardened.
A gust of wind blew, the rustling of leaves interrupting the awkward silence between us.
“I’ll do all the talking,” I added. “You don’t have to say anything. I’ll leave right after.”
“Fine,” he said, pointing to the front door. “Go in.”
As he followed behind me, I asked, “Where’s your dad?”
“Not sure,” he said, closing the front door. “But he’s gone until Tuesday.”
His house was dark, and I waited for him to lead the way. Once in the kitchen, he turned on the lights. In the harsh light, I saw his ghostlike skin and the dark bags under his eyes.
“You look tired,” I said.
