Not A Temporary Love | Finley & Harlyn #1

Chapter 30

"I'll text him again," I say, already tapping out a message.

MAX SAYS HE HASN'T HEARD FROM YOU. PLEASE ANSWER ONE OF US SO WE KNOW YOU'RE ALIVE.

I almost add a "love" at the end but stop myself and send it off.

"I can't guarantee he'll respond. If he doesn't, should I go over to his house? Make sure he's ok?"

Max is quiet for a long moment. "I mean, if you feel comfortable doing that. But I get back Monday afternoon, I can go over then."

"Alright," I breathe. "Well, I'll let you know if I hear from him."

We chat for a while about his trip, how much he loves the Scottish mountains and how eccentric his great aunt is. And when we finally hang up, the room feels unbelievably empty and quiet. What was I thinking, running away to my room to be alone? I don't do this. I can't do this. But thinking about going back downstairs and pretending I'm alright when I can't even find it in me to smile makes me sink back down in my pillows and groan.

There are footsteps on the stairs and then Marley's voice as he opens what I assume is the door to his old room.

"Mum, you said at Christmas that you were going to get rid of all of this stuff," he says, exasperated as always that his room looks exactly the way it did when he left for Uni over six years ago.

The only additions are a couple of boxes stacked in a corner that Mum took out of the guest room closet when she was rearranging it for host students to stay in. Ever since Marley officially moved out - got his own apartment the summer after his second year at Uni and took everything he wanted - he's been on Mum about finally packing everything away. He's done some, putting his old football trophies and things in boxes to be taken out to the shed or down the basement with the rest of storage. But his bed is still made with his old plaid sheets and blue duvet. And every time he and Melissa come to visit, Mum pulls out the second twin mattress from under the bed. It's basically the guest room, but with Marley's presence always looming.

"I will. I just...haven't gotten around to it," Mum says.

I don't know when Mum will ever get around to it. I dread the day I eventually move out, whenever that will be. I wonder how long my room will stay like this. There's more murmured conversation, and Melissa's voice is added to the mix, high and cheerful as always.

There's a knock on my door, and Marley pokes his head in, floppy blonde hair falling to one side as he fixes me with a look. "I didn't believe you when you said you had a study group. It's the Easter holidays. No one studies over break."

I fight the urge to stick my tongue out at him. "Yeah, yeah."

"We finished Monopoly." He furrows his eyebrows and pushes the door farther open to lean against the doorframe. "Well, we called a draw between Dad and Mel. You know how they can get."

"I do."

Melissa and Dad both have degrees and jobs in the finance world, Dad teaching and Melissa at an investment firm in London. Monopoly can get very heated when they start talking about economic theory and arguing about the better strategy. The first time Marley brought her home for the weekend after they started dating, she and Dad talked about game theory for so long that Mum ended up going to bed before Dad, an event that only happened once in a blue moon. When Marley called home last summer to announce they were engaged - something we all saw coming a million miles away - Dad did a jig. Finally, someone he could discuss econ with, as Marley was deep in the marketing world and I was deep in the past. Even Elly - who did occasionally gab with dad about accounting and numbers - wouldn't have long discussions about capitalism with him.