Page 15 of The Road Sometimes Taken

MESS, NOAH KAHAN

Cara

So many peopleare pretty criers. They have soft tears landing on their cheeks. Their eyes glow and get lighter and they look more kissed by the rain than anything else. I’m sure that’s what it feels like to be God’s—or whatever entity’s above—favorite. I, on the other hand, am not. I look more like a blowfish. My eyes get puffy and red. My usually light green eyes get as dark as emeralds and my skin gets blotchy. Definitely not kissed by the rain; more like you threw me in a pond while fully clothed and with regular mascara on. That’s exactly what I look like now after leaving my school for the last time. I’m a complete mess.

Saying goodbye to my friends from the past near-decade was not easy. It wasn’t pretty. It was so hard, in fact, that I almost considered throwing all my plans away and staying. Saying goodbye to the kids yesterday was rough, but sayinggoodbye to those who have become family was definitely not what the doctor ordered.

I make it home and get out of the van, but when I walk up to my house, I see Manuel standing by my door, looking fresh while I look like an absolute wreck. He has the whole ‘mysterious rich boy’ vibe that he always carries; but this time, with nice dark jeans and a dark collared shirt, he looks like the boy next door. Nice, approachable and hotter than sin.Jesus, I need to get laid. Can’t be lusting over this man.His back is against the wall and he’s holding a coffee in one hand and a bag from Lost Larson—my favorite bakery.

“Manny,” I greet him, reaching up to kiss his cheek. The Zabanas are Dominican and it’s part of their culture to kiss on the cheek when you say hello and goodbye. I have been a part of their family for so long that it is somewhat expected. I don’t mind it, and usually I just throw myself at Allie when I see her and I can ignore her brothers, but after hanging out with Manny last night and him actually trying to make my life a little easier, I sure as hell should show him some manners. Except the minute our cheeks touch, I feel the familiar zing on my body I’ve been getting lately when we touch, and I still don’t know how to deal with that.

“Hola, Carita,” he replies, smiling and handing me the coffee. “Coffee and croissants for my lady.”

“And from my favorite bakery. Are you trying to score brownie points? To what do I owe this pleasure?” I ask while I open the door and we walk in. There are some boxes in the living room but there’s still enough space to sit and walk around.

“We need to plan the road trip, so I figured we could make that happen now. I have my assistant on call waiting to hear from us so she can finalize plans,” he explains, sitting in a recliner that looks too small for him.

“I’m not having one of your cutie assistants plan my dream trip for me. I can handle it.”Who does he think he is? Coming in here and telling me what we’re doing.I still sip on the fucking delicious coffee he brought me, though.

“First off, she’s not cute. Second, that’s fine. Then what are we doing?” Before I can answer him, I open the bakery bag and see a croissant, take a piece off, shove it in my mouth and set the bag on the table.

“Well I need to finish packing, I need to rent a trailer for my boxes and then I need to make an itinerary for the trip. Also, how long do you have? How long can we take? Those are the things I need to know so I can plan what we’re doing and when we’re going,” I add. It’s so kind of him to want to go on this trip with me but I also hate to bother him or take him away from his fancy job. I’m twirling my hair with my hand and my knee is shaking, waiting for him to say something.

“I can hear you thinking, Cara,” Manny says.

“Well, say something then,” I groan.

“I told you we’re going. And I also told you I am a man of my word. So how long do you want me? A weekend? A week? Three weeks? You say it and you got me,” he insists, reaching forward and grabbing my hand, pulling it away from my hair.

“I mean, could you come back? I still have to finish packing and make the itinerary and do shit and I can’t do all that today. I don’t want to pull you from work for that long and maybe I’ll be ready by Monday?” Holy run-on sentence.Breathe, Cara, breathe.

“Cara, breathe for me,” he adds as if he can hear my inner thoughts and sense the turmoil.

“Okay,” I whisper and Manny lays his hands back on his knees, sitting back and relaxing in the recliner again.

“Okay, so what’s on this checklist of yours? Because I’m sure you have it hiding in one of the girlie notebooks in yourpurse,” he teases and I want to roll my eyes but I grab my bag and pull out my pink planner instead. I let out a nervous squeal because showing someone your plans is never easy, especially when you’re trying to share the plans with them. I open it to the page that has my ‘Move Back to Baker’ checklist and hand it to him.

1- Packing:

Living Room

Kitchen

Bedroom

Bonus room

2 - Bags for road trip

3 - Itinerary

4 - Leave Key with Colleen

5 - U-Haul

6 -Book hotels

7- Get supplies

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