Page 127 of Never You

My lips are pressed together in a tight smile, my eyes beaming as I swallow hard to not lose my nerve.

The features on his face are stern with a hint of fatigue as he lets out a troubled sigh.

“You okay?” I ask.

His eyes move up, a smile haunting his lips. His face is showered with hope as he sees my face, before it’s quickly replaced by a dark look that has my smile falling and my heart dropping to the ground.

As quickly as my confidence was raised, as quickly as it’s seeping out of my grasp. That feeling of love that was filling my chest in the last sixty seconds is completely replaced with defeat. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up, running a chill over my spine, because I know.

I’m too late.

I can feel it in my gut. I can feel it in the sharp pain in my heart that kills me inside, just looking at his ominous gaze.

It’s over.

We’re over.

39

The look on Lily’s face reminds me of Della when she was younger. Her light blonde hair shines bright in the morning sun like Rae’s, and her blue eyes are blazing at the world with an eagerness to explore. I still wish I’d remember how it felt to be wearing that childish, carefree gaze the entire day.

“You can’t catch me! I’m the gingerbread man!" she yelps, avoiding my grasp as she runs over the grass of the yard.

“Don’t be so sure, gingerbread man!” I leap forward, my arm circling her tiny body to throw her over my shoulder as a shriek sounds loud in my ear.

Girly giggles come from her chest while I tickle her side, and she tries to squirm out of my hands.

The sound of my phone ringing in my pocket makes me hold still, while I still have her on my shoulder. Holding her up with one hand, I pull my phone out. “Hold on, sweetie.”

Mom.

Great, just the person I was looking for.

Carefully, I put Lily back on the ground. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I gotta take this. I’ll be right back, okay?”

She gives me a slight nod with a cheerful smile, and I walk toward the right gate of the yard while I answer my phone.

“Morning, mother,” I say, my tone bored.

I’ve been preparing myself for this conversation the entire morning, knowing she was going to be calling at what time I was supposed to be arriving. After I acted out this conversation in my head about a dozen times, I just went withfuck itlike I have been.

So, here I am, thinking exactly that. She will probably throw a fit, but she’s a grown woman. She will survive.

“I’m assuming you’re arriving soon?” I chuckle at the bluntness of her question.

“How are you, Jensen?I’m good, mom. Thanks. How are you?” I mock.

“Cut the crap, Jensen.”

“Mom!” I scold, amused. “Such vile language. What will everyone think of you?”

“I hear you think this is all very amusing, but I’ve been comforting your girlfriend for the last three days. She tells me you’ve been ignoring her calls.”

My jaw ticks. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

I walk past the sheltered part of the driveway to the front yard.

“She is until your father is elected.”

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