Solving for Ex

Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

not if you were to give me the world

The sun had just begun to poke in through my blinds when the text notification on my phone screamed in my ear. I didn’t know how I had possibly slept with the image of Mr. Thomas’s plum-faced rage, immediately followed by the weird lack thereof, running through my head. What was worst was how quietly upset Brendan had been.

The text message tone screamed in my ear again. “What the—?” I muttered before finally grabbing it, swiping the screen and glaring against the impossibly bright light that assaulted my eyes. Just one message, five words from Brendan. “If you’re up, call me?”

I groaned and sat up, wiping the sleep out of my eyes and willing my head to stop pounding. “Well, now I’m up,” I muttered, punching in his name and pressing the phone to my ear with one hand and tying my hair back with the elastic that was always around my wrist with the other.

“Hey, Ash,” he answered after the first ring. “We’re still going to breakfast, right?”

“I mean, yeah. Sure, I guess. If you’re up for it.” Brendan and I hadn’t missed many Saturday morning breakfasts, but he’d canceled yesterday’s to get ready for the party. I hadn’t been planning on him moving it to today.

“I know it’s Sunday, but I’m in if you are.”

“Are you even allowed to leave the house after last night? Is your dad still there?”

“No, he left again this morning. Can you meet me at Pamela’s, though? I have some stuff to do in town right after.”

I sighed, my head still fuzzy from sleep and putting together everything Brendan said. “Yeah, okay.”

Kristin dropped me off with strict orders to call her as soon as I needed her. I smiled and brandished my cell phone in recognition as I stepped out of the car. Brendan was already there, standing on the sidewalk, fidgeting against the cold. As I approached him, we looked at each other for a hard second. I didn’t smile. I didn’t know what kind of face to make, after last night. After what I’d learned.

“Hey,” I said, walking up to the sidewalk to meet him.

“Hey,” he said, with a soft smile.

For the first time in weeks, something felt kind of normal.

We slid into our booth and the waitress brought us a pot of coffee. Brendan poured for us both, nudging it over to me without cream or sugar. I had to love a guy who knew how I took my coffee, no matter how weird he acted.

Finally, I asked, in a low voice, “What happened last night?”

“What do you mean? You were there.”

I blew out a breath and shook my head, exasperated. “I mean, what happened with your dad? He should have been screaming and throwing shit and generally freaking out, but he was just so…”

“Not totally enraged? Yeah. It’s because of Sofia.”

 “What the hell does that mean?”

Brendan sighed and looked down at his hands, which were folded together in the middle of the table. “Well, Vincent and Sofia, more accurately. Do you know why they’re here? In town?”

“Because Mansfield Prep’s such a good school. Yeah.” Because they’re hoping the name of the school will get them into college when they can’t get decent grades?