Page 103 of Something Like Fate

He perks up and leans forward, shifting his weight on his elbow. “And leave you?”

“I’m fine,” I assure stiffly. “Bianca wants to have a FaceTime date anyway. And I could probably use the rest.” Now, I know it’s unfair of me, but I kind of expect him to protest. Not because I want him to stay, but because it just doesn’t feel like the right thing to do. Leave your injured kind-of-girlfriend behind to go hiking.

But he doesn’t. “You really wouldn’t mind?”

I shift my gaze to my lap. “Nope,” I say, because I don’t have a choice.

While he’s hiking, I spend the afternoon in bed, resting and commiserating with Bianca about my injury. She’s finally healed and back on her feet, but she knows how it feels to be sidelined. After we’re done comparing wounds, she gushes about how I’m living the dream and how jealous she is that I’m not coming back to school.

“Where’s Caleb?” she asks, sipping a cup of hot chocolate in front of her parents’ fireplace. I count four fluffy-looking stockings hanging behind her.

“On a hike.”

“Oh. And he just went without you?”

“Yeah. But I told him to. I don’t need him here with me at all times,” I say quickly, realizing what my real beef is. I’m not actually annoyed that he went on the hike. He’s allowed to do things without me. What irks me is his shift in attitude since I injured myself. He’s less patient, seemingly annoyed and inconvenienced by me.

“I’d have killed Chris if he left me here to rot all by my lonesome.” Turns out, he’s not her flavor of the week. They’ve been serious since I left for Italy. To his credit, he’s been wonderful. He brought her food and helped with errands while her foot was healing over the summer. And they’ve been loyal to each other ever since.

“Do you think it’s selfish of him?” I dare to ask. I gnaw on the inside of my mouth, ridden with guilt for speaking about Caleb like that.

She tilts her head. “Kind of. But we can’t all be perfect, can we? I mean, he’s great in every other way. At least he’s straight up and honest with you about his feelings, unlike someone else.”

She’s referring to Teller, of course. When I told her about how Teller confessed he was secretly in love with me this whole time, she upgraded her one-way ticket on the Caleb train. Bianca likes a straight shooter.

“Speaking of, I meant to text you this earlier, but I thought you’d rather hear it over the phone. I saw Teller. He is way taller and hotter in person. I think he has one of those faces that look better in motion—”

She stops when my mouth falls open. I haven’t allowed myself to think about him for more than a few fleeting moments in months. It’s also a defense mechanism, because him no longer being in my life is too painful to think about. Admittedly, avoiding that reality has been easier than expected, probably because I’m across the world, distracted. I know being back at home will be another story. And I plan on putting that off as long as possible. “My Teller?”

“Is there another Teller?” Bianca asks.

“Technically, the doctor he’s named after,” I point out, not that Bianca knows that whole story. “But that’s beside the point. Where did you see him?”

“At his mom’s coffee shop. He’s home for Christmas break, I guess. Super random, huh?”

Not entirely random. It makes sense he’d take a few shifts if he were home for Christmas. But last year, he spent Christmas with Sophie. Does that mean they bro ...? No. I’m overthinking it. They’re probably doing Christmas at Teller’s this year. Not that I should care.

Apparently, Bianca’s a mind reader, because she says, “Actually, I haven’t seen Sophie post anything about Teller in a while. Maybe they broke up.” That’s news to me. I unfollowed Sophie months ago to avoid the temptation to snoop. Bianca did not get that memo, apparently.

“Did he recognize you?” I ask. Technically, they’ve never met, aside from a FaceTime chat last fall.

“Yup. Well, only after I asked if he wastheTeller. He asked how you were doing and I told him you were thriving, never been better.”

I cringe. Bianca can be a bit heavy-handed. “How did he seem?”

“Normal? I don’t really have a baseline, though. He seemed happy to know you were doing well.” She pauses for a beat to study my reaction. “Please don’t be sad about it. I knew I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“No, no!” I argue. “I’m not sad. I’m perfectly fine,” I say, forcing a smile with all my might.

“Don’t smile like that. You look like the Crypt Keeper.”

I right my face. “Sorry.”

“Anyway, like I said, I know you and Teller have history. It’s hard to ignore that. But here’s the deal—you two had the opportunity to get together for four years. You were both single when you first met. But nothing happened. That’s not by accident. Timing never worked out, and there’s a reason for that.”

I blow the air out of my cheeks, mentally exhausted all over again. “I know.”

“And! Let’s not forget, he hid his feelings from you for years and dated some other chick at the same time. That’s some serious coward behavior. You don’t need that in your life.”

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