For Your Eyes Only

Chapter 26: So Much For My Happy Ending

Chapter 26

"Should we say something?" Uncle Mitch's soft voice stopped me in my tracks before I turned the corner to get into the kitchen.

"Mitchell, no." Aunt Rory replied.

"What are you doing?" Casey whispered behind me, trying to see over my shoulder.

"Shush." I whispered back, giving her a look.

She rested her chin on my shoulder as we listened.

"She's been a completely different person these past two weeks." Uncle Mitch was saying. "I mean, when she first got here..."

"She was a disaster." Aunt Rory agreed.

"But now? Hell I don't think I've ever seen even Casey work this hard." Uncle Mitch laughed.

Casey let out a soft laugh. "Fuck you, Jordyn. Stealing my spotlight?" Casey teased.

"You know how I feel about this, though." Aunt Rory said. "Once school starts again..."

Uncle Mitch sighed, drumming his fingers on the table.

"They're gonna make me leave." I whispered to Casey, my stomach sinking.

"An extra pair of hands around here wouldn't be that bad, though." Uncle Mitch commented. "We could always use the help."

"And she is fitting in well with Casey's friends..."

"Is she though?" Uncle Mitch asked his wife. "I haven't seen Daniel around here lately."

"Yeah but that doesn't mean they..." Aunt Rory trailed off. "You think they broke up?"

"Apparently he thinks she went back to New York with her parents and nobody has the guts to tell him that she stayed." Uncle Mitch.

Aunt Rory let out a sigh. "Mitch..." She whispered. "You know I love that girl, and I will do anything to support her, but with Casey going off to college next year? I just don't think we can financially support another kid right now."

Casey sucked in breath behind me, taking a step back.

"Rory, what if we..." I didn't listen to the rest of what Uncle Mitch was saying as I turned around to face Casey.

"Listen to me." I whispered. "Play along, okay?"

"What are you-"

"Casey, I'm telling you, I'm just going to call them!" I exclaimed, stepping into the kitchen. "And you can't tell me not to."

"Don't..." Casey said, a hint of confusion in her voice for just a millisecond.

"Listen, this isn't my life. Playing along this summer and trying to be independent has been great and all but I need to go back to my real life." I said seriously, giving her a look to get her to play along.

"You literally were just going on and on about how much you hated that dumb life!" Casey exclaimed, genuinely sounding amused and frustrated with me.

"Yeah, well, I think everyone is right. That's what my life is destined to be. I can't just stay here in this town and let everyone else move on around me." I shook my head, walking over to the table just to make sure that Aunt Rory and Uncle Mitch were fully engaged in this conversation.

"What are you doing?" Aunt Rory asked suddenly.

"I'm just going to go home." I said seriously, turning to look at her. "You guys... I cannot thank you enough for letting me stay here this summer. And I know you think I'm moving backwards by going home, but really... I'm not." I shook my head. "I'm still going to be the same person I am right now, just living in New York. And I'll come visit, I promise."