Crescendo

Chapter 27

I woke up alone, and for the first time in years, I didn't mind so much. I swung my legs out of bed and stumbled into the kitchen, where I brewed enough coffee to get me going for the day.

Jay dropped me off at my door late in the evening. Although he hesitated before leaving, I didn't invite him inside, afraid that we'd wake up the next morning having made a big mistake.

After pouring myself a bowl of cereal, I sat alone, munching absentmindedly. Then, I braved checking my messages. Tessa, surprisingly, hadn't messaged me all night. She probably assumed I was with Daniel. Daniel, on the other hand, had blown up my phone.

"Hey, I know you're mad, but we need to talk," he said yesterday evening.

Later, he sent another message. "Okay, I get it. I fucked up, but can we at least talk about it?"

I shoveled another spoonful of cereal into my mouth, trying to eat away my feelings. Early this morning, he asked if he could call me, at least trying to respect my boundaries. Then, thirty minutes before I woke up, he tried to call. Of course, I silenced it, thinking it was an alarm clock, probably.

I scrolled through the messages and then typed a quick response, trying not to sound too angry. "Hey, sorry, I had a busy night. What's up?" I hit send before I could second-guess myself. Within a minute, I had a response.

"It's fine, but something came up and I'd like to see you."

My heart thumped in my chest. He wants to see me? "I don't know. Maybe it's best if we take a little time off."

"Time off?" he asked. "What do you mean?"

"You know, from the deal."

I waited by the phone for his text, and before I could finish my breakfast, it began to ring. I sighed and picked up. "Yes?"

"What's going on?" he asked.

I shrugged, even though he couldn't see me. "Nothing. I just think that maybe it's best to separate ourselves unless we have an event."

There was hesitation on the phone, then he said, "Okay, if that's what you want."

"Yeah, I think it'll be good for both of us."

"Right. Well, are you free tonight? Because I got invited to a party and I already said that you'd be there. You'd be accompanying me."

Oh.

"Um," I told Jay that I'd meet him for dinner, but I could reschedule. "Where is the event?" I asked.

Daniel sighed. "My dad's place. He's back in town, and he's inviting some guests over. He wants to introduce you to the family."

The family? I thought. "Wait, how many people are going to be there?"

"Just my cousins and aunt."

"Okay, I'll make an appearance."

"I'll pick you up at four." I agreed, but before he hung up, he said, "Thanks for doing this."

"Yeah, no problem." I would have to come up with a hell of an excuse to tell Jay.

***

Daniel picked me up from my condo, and although we did our best to be civil, the drive to his dad's house was awkward, to say the least. It took fifteen minutes to get there, and in those fifteen minutes, we had said no more than ten words to each other.

Until I got a text from Jay questioning whether he should stop by later to check in on me. At the end of the day, I had to be honest with him. Which meant lying.