Page 55 of Finding Hayes
How could I have not known? Not noticed? I’d been so caught up in my own drama, and now, none of it mattered.
“Okay. I’ll pack my things and be ready to go in the morning.”
He kissed the top of my head, and I went to my room and started packing. I checked my phone, and there were a slew of texts from Hayes, asking where the hell I was. I’d been MIA for hours, and we never went long without speaking.
I called him immediately, and it went straight to voicemail.
“It’s me.” I could barely speak over my sobs. “I need to see you. I’m leaving in the morning. My dad has cancer. My mom is in love with Mr. Jones, and they’re having a baby. My life is a shit show, Woody. I need you.”
I ended the call and finished packing.
I curled up on my bed, still in my clothes, and let sleep take me.
“You’re actually moving?” My mother’s voice woke me from a sound sleep, and I jumped up, looking down to see that I was still in yesterday’s clothing. When did she come home? It sounded like she was in the kitchen, and I peeked out of my bedroom to look down the hallway.
“Savvy wants to come with me. She doesn’t want to be here anymore either. It’s too much. I’m asking you to let us go and not make this about you, Delila.”
I didn’t wait to hear her reply before hurrying to clean myself up.
My mother met me in my bathroom as I washed my face.
“I know I’ve made a mess of things, and I’m sorry. I’m goingto make this right, Savannah. I’ll talk to Ben. He can find a job in the city, too. We’ll all get a fresh start there, okay?” she asked.
I couldn’t look at her. Couldn’t speak to her. The affair had been brutal, and now she was having a baby with another man. But none of that mattered to me at the moment.
My father was sick, and she’d put him through hell. Some things were just not forgivable.
She followed me out as I wheeled my suitcase to the front entryway. My father was standing nearby, tossing a few things into a grocery bag.
“I need to run next door and tell Hayes that I’m leaving.”
He nodded, and my mother tried to move in front of me, but I sidestepped her.
“When I was leaving late last night, there was a squad car over there. They didn’t have their siren on, but something must have happened with Barry again.”
Hayes’s stepdad was the worst.
“And you didn’t think to tell me? What is wrong with you, Mom?” I whipped the door open and stormed outside.
“I have my own stuff going on, too, if you haven’t noticed!” she shouted, before I slammed the front door behind me.
I jogged next door and hurried up the steps, just as their front door opened, and Kate stepped outside with a backpack on her shoulder. She and Hayes were dating, and I couldn’t stand her. She’d made my life a living hell these past few weeks.
“Oh, wow. You look terrible,” she said, and the corners of her lips turned up.
“Thanks for that. Where’s Hayes?”
“He’s not here. Some shit went down last night, and he’s dealing with that.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Not my story to tell. And you have plenty going on in yourown life, don’t you, Bad Abbott?”
Bad. Fucking. Abbott.
It was the best her pea-sized brain could come up with.
“You do know that your little nickname makes no sense.”
