The Wild Woman's Guide to Traveling the World by Kristin Rockaway

Author:Kristin Rockaway
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Center Street
Published: 2017-06-06T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

She didn’t wait for me to say hello. As soon as I opened the door, Elena started laying into me.

“You haven’t been answering my texts. Or returning my voice mails.” Her pleading eyes betrayed the chilly tone of her voice. “So I figured I’d come see you in person. You can’t avoid me if I’m staring you in the face, right?”

I puffed my cheeks and blew out a long breath. “I’m sorry.”

Elena blinked, suddenly speechless. Maybe she’d expected me to put up more of a fight.

“I’ve been so busy with work,” I continued, my voice dangerously unsteady. “Things are kind of a mess.” I had to force myself to stop talking before I said too much. My grandmother’s stoop was not the proper venue for an emotional confession about my long-distance love affair, or my miserable job, which I despised more and more with each passing minute. Did I really want the neighbors to hear the details of my quarter-life crisis?

“It’s all right,” she said. “I’d probably be ignoring me, too, if I were you. I just wanna make sure…I mean, are we okay?”

“Yes.” I nodded. “We’re fine. It’s water under the bridge. Let’s just move on. How did you know I’d be here today?”

“Your grandmother said you were coming over.”

“Wait, you’ve been talking to my grandmother?”

“No. I think she’s still mad at me for leaving you alone in Hong Kong. But my mom ran into her at the supermarket on Thursday, and she told her you were in town and would be coming over for breakfast today. So I was just sitting at home, and when I saw you walking down the street, I decided to come over.”

“What do you mean you were at home? I thought you moved to Hoboken with Roddy.”

She cleared her throat and stared down at her shoes, the corners of her mouth fighting against gravity. “We’re taking a little break.”

They hadn’t even lasted a full week of living together. Was that why she’d been texting me nonstop? Was she only seeking to mend fences so that I could be a shoulder for her to cry on about this breakup—their fourth? It took every ounce of self-control within me not to roll my eyes and shout, “I told you so!” Instead, I stepped aside and invited her into the foyer. “Come in.”

Elena shuffled into the kitchen, where she thrust the bouquet in my grandmother’s face. “Hi, Mrs. Bruno. I brought you some flowers.”

Grandma pursed her lips, as if the asters and Stargazer lilies gave off a foul odor. Elena turned on her Little Miss Innocent look, the one I knew so well, where she raised her eyebrows ever so slightly and thrust out her lower lip in a plea for compassion.

“Mrs. Bruno, I am really, really sorry for leaving Sophie alone in Hong Kong.”

Oh God. “Elena, you don’t have to—”

“I know how much I made you worry,” she continued, like I hadn’t even spoken, “and for that I truly apologize. From the bottom of my heart.

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