Page 105 of The Warrior
The girl ignored my attempt to change the topic. “Are you moving?”
When I looked down, Mila knew it was true. Her loud sniffle made me look up to see tears well up in her eyes.
“Oh, fuck! Sweetie, I was going to talk to you about it.”
The same expression of hurt and disappointment that had been on Laura’s face on the morning of Laila Michelle’s tournament now met me again.
“But you said you would be my dad.” Mila’s golden hair and teary blue eyes made her look like a sad angel.
“And I meant it.”
“Then why did you say that love is loyalty and that it’s about staying together through thick and thin? If you move away that must mean you don’t love me.”
“Idolove you.” It was the first time I spoke those words.
Mila hid in Laura’s arms, crying.
“Shit, shit, shit.” I got up and paced the small cabin. “Laura, I told you I was bad at talking about emotions. Look how I fucked it up.” It came out accusatory, as if it was Laura’s fault for making me express my feelings.
“Then make it right,” Laura said. “Tell her that you’re not going to Alaska.”
I wanted to, but I was in way over my head, and did the only thing I knew how to do. Picking up my jacket, I walked out of the cabin, slamming the door, and heading for the forest to clear my head.
I had only made it to the first trees when Finn called out to me. “Hey, wait up.”
I didn’t slow down, but he caught up anyway. “What’s going on?”
“Something is wrong with me.” My voice was raw from emotion.
“Wrong? What are you talking about?”
“All I know how to do is break people. Mila is in my cabin sobbing her eyes out because of me.”
Finn looked from me to the cabin and back again. “What did you say to her?”
“She knows I’m moving to Alaska.”
For a moment Finn just stood there, as if waiting for me to take it back. When I didn’t, he laughed.
I punched him hard on his shoulder and walked on. “It’s not fucking funny.”
“You told Mila you were moving to Alaska?”
“I told Khan and Laura too.”
“And theybelievedyou?”
“Of course they believed me. I’m not a jokester like you; people take me seriously.”
Finn was still laughing. “That’s because they don’t know you like I do. Have you forgotten about the time we went to Alaska? We froze our asses off in that shed of a cabin, and you swore you would never set foot in that place again.”
“I enjoyed the bear hunting,” I defended myself.
“Only because you thought it was funny how fucking scared I was of actually meeting a bear.”
“Yeah, that was funny.”
“Alaska might be okay in the summer, but you wouldn’t last a winter up there.”
