Page 113 of Meet Cute Reboot
“He’s in the car.”
“You left him in thecar?”
“It’s not that hot.”
I run to her Ford Focus. I guess she got the transmission fixed. Wait. Was the transmission ever broken? Bags, boxes, and pillows are crammed into the front seat. Gabe sits in his car seat in the back next to more bags and suitcases. What exactly did Macy have planned driving across country with her entire life stuffed inside a compact car?
When I start fiddling with Gabe’s harness, his lower lip trembles and then he wails. “Me too, bro.” I pull him out of the seat and rest him on my hip.
When we re-enter the house, Macy is slumped on the stairs. I set Gabe down and he runs over to her. He’s still crying, but she doesn’t move to comfort him. My heart aches for the kid, so I go sit by Macy and pull him onto my lap.
“Your car is full of your stuff,” I say.
Macy nods. “I thought you’d be happy to see me.”
“Your transmission was never broken, was it?”
She shakes her head. “I used some of the money to get out of my lease and some to drive across country.”
“I bet that was fun.” Gabe has ceased crying, but his muscles are tense. Little does he know I’m the guy who’s been financially supporting him. Maybe someday his mom will fill him in.
“The drive sucked. But I couldn’t stay in L.A. The guys there are self-centered jerks, the rent is too high, and the ocean’s bout to freeze my
“You never swam in the ocean.”
“Because it’s freakin’ cold. I need a place with warm water and a future.”
“I’m not it.” There’s no point beating around the bush. Under no circumstances is Macy staying at my house or anywhere within a fifty-mile radius.
She sniffs. “You’ve taken care of me—Of us...” She clasps Gabe under the armpits and shifts him to her lap. “You’ve been so generous. I just thought...”
“I’m in love with Cassie.” The sentence flows so naturally—truth from my innermost being, one that has been anchored there for years.
Macy rolls her eyes. “The Cassie that just walked out on you and said she wants nothing to do with you?”
“You had a little something to do with that.”
Feeling more comfortable with his mom, Gabe starts sucking his fingers and chattering nonsense words, somehow combining the two in a feat only a toddler can pull off.
She buries her face in Gabe’s curly, blond hair. “This all made more sense in my head.”
I know what needs to be done. I have to cut her off. Now. “I can’t keep giving you money.”
Panic is visible in Macy’s muscles and in her face as she gapes at me. “I have no place to live. No job. We can’t sleep in the car.”
“I’ll wire fifteen thousand into your account so you can get back on your feet.”
“This house is huge. We’d only take up one room. We’d leave you alone. I could find a job in Charleston.”
“Absolutely not.”
Macy’s brow pinches in anger. “I never should have wasted my time on you, Luke Curtis. Every moment of every day that I spent with you was the definition of horror.”
I slap my hands to my knees and stand. “Okay, then. Out.” I point to the door.
Macy straightens her spine. “Twenty thousand.”
“Get out of my house or you get nothing. I’m only doing this for Gabe. Find a hotel tonight. Think about what you want to do, where you want to go.”