Page 46 of The Best of Us

Juliette

While removingmy phone from my purse, I waved goodbye to security on my way to the exit.

I checked my texts, and a weird tinge of disappointment filled my stomach when there was nothing from Constantine. But why would he text in the middle of the night while I was at work? Just because I’d thought about the man every hour and every moment between seeing patients didn’t mean he’d thought about me.

I decided to text my brother instead of messaging the man I’d have lost sleep over had I had the opportunity to get in a bed last night.

Me: Are you around later today? Something important to tell you.

Easton: I can make time. Call whenever you need to. Everything okay?

The automatic doors parted for me, and a gentle breeze hit my face, drawing my attention up and across the street to the man casually leaning against a gray car, his arms crossed over his chest.

Constantine?Shock carried me forward. I was at a loss for words. So much so that I nearly stepped into oncoming traffic.

Had Constantine not shouted my name, throwing his arm out, I would’ve been hit by a bus.

I jumped backward onto the sidewalk just in time, dropping my phone and purse on the sidewalk.

A few more cars drove by, and another bus blocked my sight momentarily. Somehow, while I seemed blocked from moving, Constantine navigated around the traffic to get to me.

“Are you okay?” He reached for my arm, and I lowered my gaze to where he held me.

I wasn’t sure why time felt suspended, but it was simply hanging there.

Everything went still and quiet. The sounds of traffic vanished, and only my name from his lips managed to cut through.

I supposed watching your life flash before your eyes could do that. I’d waited forever for my son to meet his father. Getting struck by a bus the same morning I planned for them to meet officially would have been flat-out evil.

“Mom?” My son’s voice startled me back to planet Earth and out of whatever strange time loop I’d been stuck in.

I blinked my way over to the set of legs alongside Constantine’s. Worked my way up and up.

They were together.

The two of them were both looking at me andtogether.That word slid around in my mind a few more times because it wasn’t quite sticking.

“You okay? You almost died!” Colin hooked his arm with my right one, and Constantine let go of my other and knelt to collect my phone and bag. “Earth to Mom.” He waved his free hand in front of my face.

I had to be in the Twilight Zone. “What are you . . . together?” I may have lost a word somewhere in there.

“He was at a rave.” Constantine returned my phone to my purse as my son gave him some major side-eye, as if that was need-to-know information. And for some reason, he felt I didn’t need to know.

Well, consider me fully present and alert now. Nearly being run over was yesterday’s news. “What are you talking about? You’re supposed to be in your room, grounded. What rave?” I turned toward Constantine. “How’d you know? Why are you together?”

Colin focused on Constantine. “Yeah, good question. How’d you know?”

Constantine’s mouth became a tight line of contempt, a feeling I knew well when dealing with my teenage son testing my patience. But the deeper question still remained—how did he know Colin had snuck out and went to a rave?

Instead of answering either of us, Constantine nudged my purse at me like it was supposed to be some kind of peace offering.

“So easy for you to throw me under the bus, but you don’t like it when the tables are turned.” Colin winced. “Shit, sorry, Mom. Poor choice of words since you were almost taken out by a bus.”

“Car. Now.” Constantine grunted the order to Colin, gesturing to the lit-up crosswalk sign.

The fact he obeyed his demand nearly sent me backward.

Constantine reached for my arm as if worried I’d wind up in the middle of traffic again, and we quietly followed Colin over to a parked Maserati.

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