Page 53 of The Bridges I've Burned

I did kind of owe him for bailing right after…

I opened the fridge and stared at the stocked fridge Macon had left us. What should I make? Eggs and bacon? Pancakes? Oh, waffles!

I pulled my head out of the fridge and frantically looked around. I needed a recipe.

Shit, where is my phone?

I remembered I hadn’t had it when I came into the kitchen, so I ran back to my room and found it still plugged in on the side table. Just as I was about to grab it, it started to vibrate.

I looked down at the screen. Marin was calling me.

“Hey, what’s up?” I answered cheerfully.

“Hey.” By the sound of her voice, I knew instantly that something was wrong.

“Are you okay? Is the baby?—”

“Baby is fine,” she assured me. I hope she realized she was going to be saying that a lot over the next five months of her pregnancy. “I’m calling because…” She paused. “Is Zander there?”

I scrunched my brows in confusion, and for some reason, I scanned my room like I expected him to be there. “What do you mean? Where else would he be?”

She let out a sigh. “He was supposed to meet Macon at the coffee shop half an hour ago, and he never showed.”

Dread pooled in my belly as I ran to the window and pulled the curtain to the side.

The spot where Zander’s rental had been parked along the curb was now empty.

“Fuck.” I squeezed my eyes shut.

He wouldn’t.

He would.

“What?” she asked.

“Hold on,” I replied, turning around and marching out of the room.

I headed down the hallway to his room. I didn’t even knock.

I knew there was no point.

He wasn’t there.

The bed was neatly made, and the curtains were pulled closed. It was as if he had never been there.

“He’s gone,” I finally told her.

There was a long pause.

“This is going to destroy Macon.”

I bit my bottom lip, hating that I’d kept this from her. “He came back,” I told her. “It’s a start.”

But even I knew I was grasping at straws.

She said good-bye after that, needing to find Macon to deliver the news. I wandered back into the kitchen as the coffeepot beeped that it was ready.

A whole pot of coffee, just for me.

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