Page 14 of Through You
He rolls his eyes.
“It’s hard to forget the name that my best friend called out every time he’d get drunk all through first year.”
“That belongs in the past.”
He sits down.
“Sure thing. What did you do to her?”
My mind flashes back to that moment, me watching her clean the tea I’d spilled. It’s been tormenting me—I don’t understand why I’m overcome with anger whenever I’m near her.
“You’ll slap me when I tell you what I did.”
Alex’s jaw drops. “Wow. That bad, huh?”
The memory of Claudia’s expression tortures me. But I keep that to myself.
Alex is looking at me intently. “Artemis, after all these years, you need to let her go. Stop harboring this grudge over something that’s in the past.”
“I’m not holding a grudge. I feel nothing for her.”
“You can lie to yourself, and to others. But we both know that’s not the truth. The anger and lack of self-control that take hold of you come from those pent-up feelings.”
“Enough. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Apologize to her, turn the page, and then be civil to her!”
I don’t respond. Instead, I get up and leave my office. Once I’m down the hall, I continue on my routine walk around to check on daily operations. Alex will get the hint.
After Cristina and I have our dinner, I drop her home and head back to mine. I loosen my tie the moment I enter and massage my neck to ease the tension. I can hear noise coming from the kitchen as I head there to get a glass of water. I haven’t been in the kitchen since the morning I put Claudia in her place. I won’t deny that remorse has been eating at me ever since.
The sound of Claudia’s voice spreads throughout the kitchen.
She’s singing. I stand quietly and watch her from the doorway. I never expected the uniform I forced her to wear would look this good on her. She sings while cooking, and holds the spoon as if it was a microphone.
I can’t help but smile. She has a lovely voice, and it brings back old memories, like that Sunday afternoon when we were younger, enjoying the pool.
We were sitting together on the edge, with our feet dipped in the water.
“Do you have a dream?” I asked her, out of curiosity.
She shook her head. “No. People like me can’t afford to entertain dreams.”
I frowned at her response. “Why not?”
“Because it’s a waste of time to give in to illusions that will never come true.”
I took a sip of my soda.
“You’re quite the pessimist. You know that, right?”
“And you are too quiet. You know that, too, right?”
That made me laugh. “But never with you,” I said.
“Yes, I know. But it’s an entirely different story with others.
You need more friends.”
