Absolute Truths

Chapter Nine

There’s a knock on my front door the following night. Duke and Scout slip and slide across the floor, scratching at the door and barking incessantly. I peel myself from the living room couch and walk through the foyer, nudging Duke and Scout aside with my knees and raising myself up on my toes to look through the peephole.

            Damn it. It’s Carter.

            I managed to sneak out of Todd’s this morning without him noticing, or my parents, for that matter. They’re away visiting my brother, Ethan, in Indiana.

            I knew it was only a matter of time before Carter showed up here. I can’t face him after last night. I’ve never looked or felt so horrible in my life. But I can’t just leave him standing out in the hallway, so I reluctantly unlock the door and open it halfway, standing in the space between the door and the frame. Duke and Scout shove their big heads through the spaces around my legs to see what’s happening.

            I don’t say hello. Neither does he. I wait for him to speak first. He looks at me with that smirk of his, but his eyes are lacking their usual playfulness. I sigh and step back, opening the door wider. The corner of his mouth lifts into a small smile, and he steps around me. Duke and Scout circle him, sniffing. He reaches down to pat their heads. I close the door behind him. He walks ahead of me. “I love your living room.” He says. “Very tasteful.”

            I want to remind him that he’s seen my living room before, but I keep my mouth shut. He disappears into the kitchen before I can protest or even acknowledge the fact that he just strolled through my apartment without a single word of my permission. I just follow him and find him waiting for me in the kitchen, leaning over the island, his forearms resting on the marble countertop, his hands clasped. I stand a safe distance away. “Why are you here?” I ask him.

            He focuses his gaze on his hands. “I never apologized,” he says. “I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry. I’m sorry for avoiding you, after everything you told me. I’m sorry I made you sound selfish. I’m sorry for getting mad at you last night. I was wrong for all of that, and I am so, so sorry. I mean that.”

            I cross my arms over my chest.

            “I was hoping,” he continues, still not looking at me, “that you’d forgive me and we could go back to the way things were, you know, before I fucked it all up.”

            I let out a puff of air.

            “But if that’s not what you want—”

            “It is,” I say.

            He looks up. “Really?”

            I nod. “Yeah.”

            He heaves a sigh of relief and steps forward, gathering me in his arms. “Oh, good. I missed you.”

            I recoil in shock, then ease into him. “Listen, I’m sorry, too,” I say. “I didn’t mean anything I said last week. I was just mad.”

            “I know,” he says into my hair. “You’re a terrible liar.”

            “And I’m sorry about last night. I know I hurt you, and—”

            “Bex.” He lets me go. “Let’s just forget about it, okay?”

            I nod. “Okay.” We make our way back to the foyer. “So,” I say, because now I’m not sure what else there is to say.