“Dominic, I do not have all day. I have to go!”
“Why the rush?”
“Nothing.”
“Then it’s not urgent, right? I can take my time.”
This infuriatingly grumpy old man. “Listen, I understand you’re set in your ways since you’ve lived, loved, laughed, and all of that, but I have to get back. I would appreciate it very much if you’d just take me.Now!”
“So grumpy,” he says.
I chuckle. “Me?” A louder laugh escapes me this time. “If you think this is grumpy, you haven’t met you, or is it a big deal because it’s me being grumpy right now and not you?”
He shakes his head and speeds up, the way I was hoping so we can get back to the other side and I can beg Lilly for forgiveness. How did I forget our meeting? That was so reckless of me. How am I supposed to show everyone I’m capable of holding responsibilities without forgetting or breaking something if all I keep doing is exactly both of those at once?
The drive is quick; either Dom was speeding, or I’ve been so lost in my thoughts, it felt like I blinked and we were here.
“Thank you. I owe you one.” I get out and start running, straight to Lilly’s office.
Except, her office is empty.
Damn it.
“You missed her,” Lainey says from behindme.
“Hi! Do you know where she went?” I ask, sliding into her arms for a sideways hug.
“She had a meeting with some important person, and she was going to show them around. Maybe you can catch up to her.”
I kiss her cheek. “Thanks, Lainey. You’re the best!”
“Now, eat, child. Don’t run off again!” she shouts behind me, but I don’t have time to waste. I need to find her and apologize.
I run into Dom as I rush outside. “Sorry. Um, have you seen my sister? Did she pass you? Where did she go?”
“No to all of those, and I don’t know about the last one.”
Ugh. “Okay, thanks.”
“Why don’t you try to eat something first? I’m sure Lilly’s got it.”
Look who’s concerned about me now. I will do just that, but not because he said so. I’m just hungry. “Fine, but I’m claiming my spot today.”
Lilly’s going to be so disappointed in me; so much for showing her I can handle more. I fill my plate with food to match my brain flooding with worries that all I’ve ever been is one disappointment after another. It’s in moments like this, when I try my best and still fuck it up, that I agree with what everyone has always said about me: I’m a wild one with my head in the clouds. A rootless flower—beautiful to look at, impossible to keep from wilting.
“You okay?” Dom’s rumbly voice snaps me from my self-loathing sesh.Out of your head, Riley. This is not what we’re working on.
“Yup! Perfectly fine!”
He holds a plate, but he doesn’t ask to sit by me, letting me keep the boundary I set that this is my space. But something about his sad eyes and pouty lips—perfectly full lips, I might add—makes me want to give up the fight. “You can sit. I was being dramatic.”
He takes it, sliding into the old metal chair in front of me, the one my dad often used to take to just talk to his Riley Girl.
“Sorry I was being crabby.”
“You were not.”
“You called me grumpy, so I was being very crabby ifyouthought so.”