Nearing September by Amber Thielman

Author:Amber Thielman [Thielman, Amber]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-02-14T06:00:00+00:00

Sam

He was right, and I knew it. I had a choice. I could have denied guardianship to Piper—I could have allowed the kid to go to her grandparents to live, but I hadn't let that happen. I had consciously decided to accept guardianship, and now I was facing the consequences.

I paid for the groceries as I pondered this—could I call them consequences? Was it a negative consequence to take care of my best friend's daughter? It had been a sacrifice, yes, but not a consequence.

“Have a wonderful day, dear,” the old woman behind the counter said. “The sun is supposed to be intense today, so don't forget to lather that fair skin up in sunscreen.”

“It doesn't do any good,” I said with a laugh as I backed out of the grocery store. “I burn anyway. Apparently not even Washington can save me from that.” I waved goodbye to the store clerk and headed for the apartment, wondering if Nick had made himself scarce. It was awkward for me to be alone with him, though I wasn't sure why. It was a losing battle, I realized—I couldn't stay far enough away from him, and yet he was the only person I wanted to be around.

“I'm home,” I called, pushing open the front door. The grocery store was conveniently close, within two blocks, and it had given me an excuse to get out of the house and away from Nick so I would stop fumbling over my words and actions.

“It's just not working anymore, Lindsay,” Nick was saying as I closed the door behind me. It was still early, so Piper wasn't home yet. “You and I want different things. I'm sorry.” There was a long moment of silence, a quiet so loud that I wasn't sure if Nick was on the phone or if Lindsay was here.

“It's that bitch, isn't it?” Lindsay asked, and I felt a ball of dread in the pit of my stomach. “Samantha?”

“Of course not,” Nick said. I glanced toward the stairs, wondering if I'd be able to slip past them unnoticed up to my bedroom. “This isn't about someone else—this is about the fact that you and I are not working, Lindsay.”

“We were fine before that redheaded bitch moved in,” I heard Lindsay say bitterly. I closed my eyes and took a calming breath, unsure if I could ignore the girl for much longer. I was being accused of something I was not guilty of, and that infuriated me.

“Things were falling apart before Sam moved in,” Nick said. “You just didn't want to see it.”

“You know what, Nick?” Lindsay asked loudly. There was silence and then, “I'm fucking done here.” Panicking, I let the bags of groceries drop from my hands and then turned to start up the stairs, but I was a moment too late as Lindsay stormed out of the kitchen, practically steaming from the ears. She spotted me, scowled, flipped her middle finger, and then stormed out the door, slamming it hard behind her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.