Page 101 of Crave Thy Neighbor

I didn’t even have it in me to argue with him about it. He was right anyway.

When I show up at the boutique every day, I paste on a smile Caroline and River seem to buy and lock myself in the storeroom for the rest of my shift until I have to pick up Sam.

I’ve declined a coffee date and invitation to dinner from them, always rushing home to see if Nolan’s there waiting, that lazy grin back on his face.

It’s not, and at this point, I’m just going through the motions.

When Sam asked for help on his homework tonight, I jumped at the request, a reprieve from thinking about where things went so wrong.

We have our heads bent together when Nolan comes through the door later than he normally does.

“Dude, Nolan, you missed breakfast this morning. Mom made pancakes,” Sam declares before he even has the door closed.

Nolan gives him a tight-lipped smile, not bothering to glance in my direction. “That’s nice, bud.”

He slips his boots off, then rises to his full height, heading right for the fridge.

“I made pork chops tonight. There’s a plate in the microwave for you.”

He nods but doesn’t say anything as he dips his head, shuffling things around, sighing.

“Something wrong?” I ask.

“Where’s my cherry PowerUp?”

“It should be behind the milk.” I push off the stool, going to help him look.

“Perfectly capable of pushing a gallon of milk out of the way,” he snaps, causing me to shrink back. “It’s not there.”

“Um…” Sam says, pulling our attention his way. He scrunches his face up, and I already know what’s coming next before he says it. “I took it to school with me this morning and drank it.”

“It’s okay, kiddo,” I tell him.

“No, it’s not okay.” He slams the fridge closed, gaze angry and sharp. “That was mine.”

I snap my head to Nolan, narrowing my eyes at him. “It’s just a drink, Nolan. He didn’t know better.”

“I’m sorry,” Sam says quietly.

“It’s okay,” I tell him again. “Just make sure you ask next time. Why don’t you go put your homework in your backpack before you forget?”

His eyes bounce back and forth between me and Nolan, the worry clear in his stare.

Patrick and I had our fair share of problems, but we never fought in front of Sam, and I don’t have any intentions of fighting with Nolan in front of him either.

With his shoulders sagging, Sam gathers his things and trudges down the hall.

As soon as he’s around the corner, I whirl on Nolan.

“What the hell is your problem?” I seethe, poking a finger into his chest. “Don’t you ever talk to my kid like that again. You need to apologize to him.”

He mutters something I don’t quite catch, but I know it’s not good.

“What did you just say?”

He gnashes his teeth together. “I said, maybe your kid should be a little more respectful of shit that isn’t his. I found one of my books under the couch this morning too, and there were Cheeto fingerprints on the pages Iknowdidn’t come from me.”

I see the regret in his eyes with every word he speaks. He’s not lashing out at Sam. Not really. He’s lashing out at me. I just don’t know why.

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