GIVING BACK
Nathaniel
Carson wouldn’t tell me much, but he did say Maryah injured her shoulder while dirt bike riding. I gestured at the chair beside her bed. “Would you prefer to sit?”
“Nope, I’m good.” She crossed her arms over her chest, still holding her change of clothes.
My chest tightened when I saw she wasn’t wearing her ring, but then my attention lingered on the polka dot underwear clenched in her hand. She glanced down and shoved them between her shirt and shorts so they were out of view. Her cheeks blushed so strong that they almost matched the red dirt in her hair.
I contained my smile to keep from embarrassing her further. “I know you have no desire to see me, but I couldn’t bear the thought of you being angry with me for one more day.” She didn’t blink. “I have felt awful every minute of every day since the balloon fiasco.”
Still nothing. I’d always been horrible at apologies, and I was failing miserably at this one as well. “Maryah, I am more sorry than you can imagine.”
Her words were flat. “You tried to kill me.”
“That wasn’t my intention. I only meant to scare you, to make you realize you didn’t truly want to die.” My excuse was horrible and pathetic. “But it was wrong and inexcusable.”
“You insulted my family.”
“I am deeply sorry for that. Please forgive me for being such a monster.”
She flinched at the word monster. I hated that she thought of me in such a way, but Carson said she had used that title and her guilty eyes confirmed it.
“I’m an inconsiderate imbecile and I wish I could take it all back, but there is no undoing what’s been done. However, I’d like to make a peace offering as a sign of my regret, and to extend my respect to your parents and your brother.”
“What?”
I bowed my head. “I have a gift for you.”
“A gift?”
“Technically, it belongs to you by birthright, so you should think of it as an inheritance.”
She gaped at me with confusion. “Why can’t you just speak like a normal teenager?”
Because I’m not, nor do I want to be . I extended my hand. “Will you join me?”
“Join you in what?”
“I don’t deserve it, but please, I am asking you to trust me.” My hand was suspended inches away from hers. I craved her touch, but she threw her clothes on the bed and shoved her hands in her pockets.
“Well, lead the way,” she said.
I ushered her out of the room and down the hallway. When we passed by the kitchen, Carson gave me an approving nod. Dakota pumped his fist in the air. I held the front door open, and Maryah and I walked to the driveway in darkness.
I pushed the gate open and her knees buckled, but I caught her by the arm. In the driveway, I had lit dozens of red and white candles and arranged them in a large circle. Parked in the middle of the heavenly glow was a white ‘57 Desoto with a red bow on top.
She shakily walked toward the car and touched the back fin. “It’s just like my parents’.”
“It is…theirs.”
“What?”
“It’s the car your parents owned. The fellow who bought it from your uncle agreed to sell it to me.”
“Are you kidding me?” She looked at the car again, and a huge smile spread across her face, but when I stepped closer, I saw tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Are you all right?”
“Do you have any idea how much this means to me?”
“Then those are tears of joy?”
She nodded and wrapped her arms around my waist. Every cell in my body tingled with joy.
“How did you know?” she asked, pulling away. Her embrace was too short—much too short. I wanted to hold her forever.
“Anthony. He sensed how upset you were that the car had been sold.”
She smiled and nodded. “But wasn’t it expensive?”
“You’d be surprised how generous people can be when you share a story with them.” Truth was that Dylan had to persuade the stubborn, coldhearted antique dealer to sell me the car. I disliked the man so much I told Dylan we should have made him give it to us for free, but Dylan remained levelheaded and negotiated a more-than-fair deal.
Maryah glanced between me and the Desoto at least five times. “Thank you so much, Nathaniel.”
Hearing her speak my name so fondly made me feel like a new man. She no longer looked at me with resentment. “My pleasure.”
An engine roared behind us and I turned to see a Jaguar pulling into the driveway. River Malone parked and stepped out of his car holding white roses.
“You forgot your flowers last night,” he said to Maryah before glaring at me.
A bomb began ticking in my chest. I knew they were friends, but what sort of friends give and accept roses from the other? If she was dating him—dating anyone—it would cause an explosion that would annihilate my heart and soul.
“Oh, thanks.” Maryah took the vase from him. “Nathan, do you know River?”
“He knows me,” River said. “What’s all this?” I assumed he gestured at the car and glowing candles, but I couldn’t be certain because I couldn’t take my focus away from Maryah. The ticking in my chest grew stronger. She couldn’t be with someone of River’s caliber. She couldn’t be with anyone aside from me. We were destined to be together. You and me for eternity. Or had that also changed when she erased?
She stepped between me and River. “Nathan found my parent’s car, and convinced the owner to give it back to me!”
“Is it a Valentine’s gift?” River asked.
“No. It’s a…a…” Maryah looked at me, lost for words.
Parts of me had gone numb, but I managed to force out, “peace offering.”
“Where’s the diamond necklace I bought you?” River snarled.
Diamond necklace? He had bought her jewelry? And she accepted it? Was that why she stopped wearing her ring? I held my breath as the final beeps of my internal bomb rang through my ears. Her answer would determine a false alarm or a detonation. Beep, beep…
“Umm.” She shuffled her feet and brushed dirt from her shirt. “I went four-wheeling and didn’t want to get it dirty.”
KABLAM! Fragments of rage and devastation shot through me, ricocheting off of every memory I had of us together, shredding me into useless rubble. Visions of her kissing him made my stomach lurch. I had to walk away.
“Whatever,” River said. “Let’s take the peace offering for a spin.”
I clenched my fists at my sides. The veins in my arms and neck throbbed.
How dare he lay a finger on the precious car that used to be ours. I wanted to grab him by his throat and shove him back in his pretentious Jaguar.
“Oh. Well, I guess we…” Maryah practically skipped over to me. She had a bounce in her step that I hadn’t seen in decades. River made her that happy?
“Keys are in the ignition. Let’s roll!” River strutted toward us. He handed me the vase of roses. “You don’t mind taking those inside, do you, pal?”
I contemplated knocking his teeth out of his head, but instead I gritted my own.
Another man—an arrogant boy—had caused a spark in my soul mate that I hadn’t seen since our last lifetime. Maryah looked up at me with gleaming eyes. “Is it okay if I take it for a drive?”
Behind her, River blew out the candles I had lit and kicked them to the side of the driveway to clear a path. I was squeezing the vase so hard it should have shattered. The scent of the roses turned my stomach. I’d never be able to smell the flower again without cringing.
“You’re free to do as you wish,” I told Maryah, turning and walking toward the gate, but she grabbed my arm.
“Wait! Do you want to come with us?”
I stared at her, silently questioning her. How could you do this? How could you be with someone else? Her smile didn’t wane. We stood facing each other as complete opposites: joy and misery. I wanted to traverse out of the nightmare. I needed to get away from them. “Perhaps some other time.”
She let go of me when River wrapped his grubby arm around her waist.
“Come on, babe.”
Babe: that one word put the final nail in my coffin. Like a true pompous ass, he winked at me before dragging her to the car.
“Thank you again, Nathan!” She shouted. “I absolutely love it.”
The Desoto’s engine cranked to life. With each step toward the house, more and more of my soul withered away. I pushed the front door open and threw the vase across the foyer. A frenzy of white and green fell to the ground as black ceramic shattered all over the floor. I stared at the water dripping down the wall like the tears I wanted to shed.
Carson came around the corner, followed by Dakota. “Nate, what’s wrong?”
“Everything.”