Our Kind of Love (19 page)

“What’s up, Greg?” I feign interest.

“Mitchel, it’s been a while.” His usual cheerful
voice is filled with concern.

“Not long enough,” I grumble. “You said you’d
let me breathe,” I say sharply.

Greg exhales long and hard before saying, “He’s
awake, Micah. Lewis Harrison is finally awake.”

After a few seconds I realize what this means
and manage to find my voice again, muttering, “He is?”

“His wife called me. She found out I was your
counselor in juvie and wanted me to set up a meeting,” he explains. “They’ve
been looking for you. Lewis wants to see you. You have to come back to Haxtun.”

My stomach drops. There’s no way I can go back.
No way will I see his family, or him. I’m too ashamed. I can’t face them.

“You know I can’t,” I tell Greg.

“Mitchel, you have to stop running. We both know
it wasn’t your fault and Lewis Harrison wants you to know that too. The man’s
out of his coma after two years and he’s asking for you. You owe it to him.”

“Tell him…” I pause, not sure what to say.
“Look, just give me some time.”

“Mitchel, I think—”

“I need time, Greg,” I say again then hang up.

I’m glad Lewis woke up from his coma, but I’m
partly to blame for putting him in that situation to begin with. He’s missed
two years with his wife and son. How can I look at them? How can I look at him?

Frustration must be etched all over my face when
I tread inside the restaurant, because Aislin asks the moment she glimpses me,
“You okay?”

“Yeah…I’m fine,” I tell her and walk past her
around to the back room to change into a uniform.

I know I should return to Haxtun and face Lewis.
It’s the right thing to do. Grams would have wanted me to. But I feel like a
coward right now. I just can’t do it alone.

My body shudders when I feel Reign’s arms wrap
around me from behind. I clasp my hands over hers and take a breather.

“Your mom might see this,” I say.

She tightens her grip and reposes her head
against my back. “I should tell her, anyways. Besides, I wanted to steal a hug
before you came out because you seem so off. You didn’t even say hi when you
showed up earlier, walked right by me to go change.”

It is time I tell her about Haxtun. I’ve been
hiding it in my heart long enough and Reign could be the one to give me the courage
I need to return.

Loosening her arms, I spin around to face her.
“Listen, uh…about Haxtun—”

Voices interrupt me before I can spill the
truth. Then her mom and a man in dress shirt and formal pants walk by the room.
She notices me and Reign and backtracks, peering into the room with a
questioning look in her eyes.

“What’s going on?” she asks.

“Who was that?” Reign counters. I’m kind of
waiting for her to tell her mom about us but she doesn’t say anything.

Mrs. Aldridge dawdles for a fraction of a second
then she says, “That was Dean Carmichael. He’s a friend, and a restaurant
broker.”

Reign straightens in her amazement.
“A broker?
Why’s he here?”

Glancing at me, Mrs. Aldridge slants and starts
to stroll away. “We’ll talk about this later,” she mutters with her back
turned, before disappearing in the passage.

I put my hands on Reign’s shoulders and knead
out her sudden tension.

“What’s going on with your mom?” I ask her.

She shrugs. “I don’t know…I think she’s planning
on selling after summer.”

“I’m sorry, babe.”

Twisting around, she smiles up at me.
“Babe?
Humph, I like that. It sounds good when you say it.”

I’ll tell her about Lewis and what happened in
Haxtun later, when I make up mind about going back too. Right now, I just want
to enjoy what’s starting between us and not think about anything else.

TWENTY
-
FOUR

Reign

I’M ABOUT TO CALL Nate when I step out of the
restaurant, only to see him waiting for me in the parking lot. He looks
pitiful, with sad eyes and a dull face.

Building up the courage to tell him the truth, I
push myself forward, saying, “Nate, I was gonna call you. Look, I’m—”

“Baby, I’m so sorry.” He hurries up to me and
tugs me in his embrace. “I never meant to hurt you like that. It was a stupid
mistake and I promise you it’ll never happen again.”

I wrench myself out of his arms and try again.
“Nate, there’s something I have to tell you. I—”

“Let’s go to our special place and talk,” he
interrupts me yet again as if he knows what’s on my mind. “We’ll have more
privacy,” he adds.

When I look into his eyes and see the
anticipation within them, something sinks in me. I feel guilty for breaking up
with him, but it’s something I have to do. I can’t carry on a relationship with
him when I want to be with Micah. It’s not fair to either of them.

Nate pulls me to his car before I can say
anything else. I figure maybe going with him will help him deal with the
breakup better. It’s probably good that way; we’ll end where we began.

He opens the passenger door for me and I climb
inside his Porsche. Then he hurries around the car and hops in behind the
wheel, backing out of the parking lot.

Just my luck, Micah steps out of the restaurant
the instant Nate pulls onto the road. He sees me in the car, my boyfriend’s
car, and a dark shadow guises his face. Oh yeah, he’s pissed.

We arrive at our spot at the beach and sit down
on the rocks. I keep fiddling with my phone in case Micah calls or texts me.

We’re supposed to hang out tonight and I’m
trying to hurry up the process so I can go back and explain to him. But Nate
won’t stop talking about the first time he saw me in high school and how he
finally decided to ask me out too late.

“I shouldn’t have waited so long,” he says.
“Confessing my feelings to you two months before we graduated was stupid on my
part when I wanted to do it way before. We would’ve gotten to know each other
so much more.”

“Nate, its fine,” I tell him, rubbing my thumb
across the screen.

“What’s up with you and your phone?” he asks,
sounding annoyed.

I put it in my pocket and meet his gaze. There’s
no easy way to do this so I have to just come out and say it. “Nate, um…I’m
sorry about this, but I think we should stop seeing each other.”

He wrinkles his brows and scowls at me. “What?
You want us to break up?”

“Yes…,” I reply in a whisper. “I don’t think
we’re working and—”

“I said I was sorry, Reign. People make
mistakes. It won’t happen again.”

“It’s not about you cheating. I’m not even as
upset about it as I outta be, and that only means I don’t really want to be
with you.”

“Wow,” he laughs, amazed by my remark. Nate
throws his head back and glances up at the starry sky. A minute passes before
he looks at me again. “So, just like that, we’re done? Do you even care that
you’re hurting me right now? When did you become so inconsiderate of my
feelings?”

“I’m sorry,” I tell him. “It’s not that I’m
inconsiderate, I just want to move on. And so should you.”

Spinning away from his angry expression, I look
out at the dark ocean, violent foam-topped waves rush to the shore; with every
inhale the salty sea breeze fills my nose. I can hear Mary’s cries echo in the
distance. She’s out there, in the deep, waiting for me.

“You never even asked why I don’t like going on
boats, or why I never want to go swimming,” I say, my voice sounding faint.

He scoffs before replying, “Because I always
thought you didn’t want to tell me.”

Meeting his eyes again, I say, “That’s just it,
I don’t feel like I can tell you things, not about Mary or about my guilt.”

Confused, Nate twists his face and shakes his
head. “Who the hell’s Mary?”

“My sister…” I answer in a whispery tone.

He furrows his brow. “I never knew you had a
sister.”

“Of course you did, everyone here knows about
the Aldridge girl who drowned. It was even on the news.”

“See, that’s what I don’t like about you, Reign.
You expect me to know things when you never bring anything up. Like how I’m
supposed to know you’re uncomfortable having sex when you’re already letting me
touch you all over.”

I spring to my feet, upset. “It always comes
back to sex with you, doesn’t it? And the only reason I didn’t tell you about
my sister is because I know you’ll call me crazy if I tell you I see her in the
ocean, even though it’s been seven years since she drowned.”

With his mouth slightly open, Nate looks at me
like a deer in headlights. “You see your dead sister?” There’s a glint of
ridicule in his voice. He’s judging me.

Swirling around, I start to head back up the
beach, my feet heavy with ever trek in the sand. I’m mad I shared something
like that with him. What was the point, anyway? We’re over.

“We’re you going?” he calls after me.

“I’m gonna call Claudia to come get me,” I fume
over my shoulder.

He chases after me and reaches for my elbow,
slowing me down. Then he whisks me around and pulls me into his chest, hugging
me tightly.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think you’re crazy. I can’t
believe you never told me something like that though.” His voice has a softer
edge now.

Gently, he eases me away. “Don’t be like this,
babe. You’re just mad at me right now. I’ll give you some time to clear your
head and then we can start fresh again. You can tell me more about Mary and
we’ll…work on it together.” There’s uncertainty in the last part.

“No, Nate.” I wring out of his grasp. “I don’t
need time to clear my head. I don’t want to start fresh again.”

“But we love each other,” he says harshly, his
jaw twitching. I glance at his hands and notice his fists are clenched.

His anger scares me but I have to be honest with
him. I have to tell him how I truly feel. “I don’t love you. I never have. I
thought that in time I’d grow to care about you the way you say you care about
me but it never happened. I can’t give you what you want, Nate. I’m sorry. I
really am.”

For a moment he says nothing, only stares at me
in the most disappointed way, breathing heavy. Mary’s voice still reverberates
in the background, amid the crashing waves and the loud beating of my heart. I
wonder why when I’m with Micah she doesn’t make a sound, yet when I’m alone or
with anyone else, especially Nate, I hear her panicked screams.

I never understood why she wanted to go for a
swim so late that night. Then again, that was impulsive Mary, always doing
crazy things.

“Fine,” he finally says, stepping past me. “I’ll
take you back.”

I pause to steady my nerves then follow behind.
It’s bad enough that I broke up with him, but now he has to drive me back to my
car. What a killer.

When we return to
Captain’s Choice
,
Micah’s bike is gone.
Of course.
Mom’s car is there in
the parking lot though. I climb out of Nate’s car and closed the door, bending
down at the window.

“I’m really sorry,” I tell him again.

A smirk appears on his face as he glances over
at me. “Sure you are.” He revs his engine for me to back away. As soon as I do,
he speeds off.

Sighing, I start over to the entrance, sending
Micah a text as I unlock the door and step inside.

Me:
Hey, sorry about tonight.

He replies a few seconds after.

Micah:
I’m over it. Have fun with your bf.

What does that mean? Is he no longer interested
in me?

Me: Not with him. I’m back at CC. R u
home? I’ll come over.