Page 66 of The Perfect Deal
The kids chatted as they climbed onto the buses, but many of them had sad looks on their faces. No one ever wanted camp to end.
“Looks like we’ve got everything,” Marcy told me, coming back from the cabins. “All the kids are out here, so as soon as they get loaded up, we can go.”
“Perfect. Thank you.” I clapped her on the shoulder and then headed onto the bus, my eyes roaming the rows for Liberty.
She was sitting in the back with Elizabeth. A sigh escaped my lips as I realized she didn’t want to sit by me.
“Hey, Josh!” Karrie shouted from a few rows to my left. “Saved you a seat!”
I swallowed hard and looked around for other options. Seeing none, I reluctantly sank down beside her, knowing she’d talk my fucking ear off the entire ride home.
We pulled out of the camp parking lot a few minutes later as Karrie told me a story about a squirrel she’d seen at the lake. I tried to stay engaged, but it was hard. What in the world was wrong with Liberty?
Finally, we arrived back at the sports complex. Normally, I would stand by the bus door and tell all the kids goodbye, but I had to keep an eye on Liberty. I needed to talk to her. I saw her hugging her girls as they all grabbed their bags, and then, she turned and looked at me with fire in her eyes.
Saying nothing, she turned and walked around the back of the bus. Impulsively, I followed her, cutting through kids, probably ignoring some of them who were trying to tell me goodbye. I caught up to Liberty as she was getting into her car. “What’s going on?” I shouted to her.
Still looking like she wanted to run me through with a javelin, she said, “I know everything, Joshua. Karrie told me, okay? You’re a complete and utter asshole, even worse than Grady because I thought you actually cared about me.” Tears glistened in her eyes as she threw her bags into her car. “Go to hell, Joshua. I never, ever want to see you or speak to you again.”
With that, she got in and drove off, her tires squealing across the pavement.
My mouth hung open as I watched, confused and overwhelmed.
What the fuck was she talking about?
40
LIBERTY
The drive home from the sports complex was exhausting. It had taken everything I had within me to keep from crying at camp, but as soon as I was alone in the car, the tears came flooding out of me. The stupid romantic song on the radio didn’t help. I punched it to turn the damn thing off and ended up hurting my hand.
What the fuck had Joshua been thinking? Did he really think he could put the two women he was fucking around with in the same cabin, and they wouldn’t ever talk about him? Maybe he thought Karrie and I were different enough that we wouldn’t like one another and we wouldn’t speak. To a degree, that was true. Karrie was absolutely obnoxious and bothered me in more ways than I could count. But it was inevitable that she would mention her date with him, how they were secretly seeing one another, eventually. It wasn’t as if she was the quiet type.
Still fuming, I made my way into our neighborhood, hoping Joshua got caught up telling the kids goodbye or something so that I wouldn’t have to worry about him showing up at my house. I parked in the garage so maybe Joshua would think I wasn’t home. Landon’s car wasn’t there.
Getting out of the car, I pulled out my phone and checked my calendar trying to figure out where my brother was. I’d marked down that he had a business trip that I’d otherwise totally forgotten about. Relieved that I wouldn’t have to face Landon again, I grabbed my stuff and headed inside.
The house was quiet as I made my way to the laundry room to take my clothes out of my luggage. The last thing I needed was to accidentally leave a wet bathing suit in there for a couple of weeks. With that chore done, I went to my room and deposited everything else in the corner—for now. I should’ve gone ahead and unpacked the rest, but I was exhausted both physically and mentally, so I fell face first onto my bed.
What the fuck was Joshua thinking?
I didn’t have an answer for that. It didn’t make any sense, and it just made me sad. Was it possible this was his attempt to blow me off? At the end of camp last time, he’d just decided to give me the cold shoulder, so maybe this time he thought it would be easier if he had someone else ruin our relationship for him. He could have Karrie tell me that he was in love with her and not even have to open his mouth.
The whole thing was depressing. I’d just begun to think there was a good chance that Joshua and I might have a future together, especially since Landon had given us his blessing. Now, everything seemed ruined in every way imaginable.
The urge to go to sleep for the next couple of weeks and only get up in time for my brother’s wedding, even missing the trip to Bali, was tempting. But my family and friends would never let me get away with that anyway. No, this was the sort of problem that begged for friendship, lots of good food, and wine.
It was a given that I’d have to have Poppy over for this. She was my best friend, and I needed her shoulder to cry on. I wished that Sophia was available, but she had gone back to school, and there was no way I was bothering my sister on her way back here for our Bali trip because Joshua was an asshole. No, I’d need someone else to make me feel better about this situation. Or at least help me understand what had gone on.
“Hannah,” I muttered, pulling my phone out of my pocket to send her a text. Of course! Joshua’s little sister might have some insight into this whole issue. Maybe she could explain to me how it was I’d managed to miss the fact that her brother was a jackass for so many years. Surely, with all the time she’d spent living with the man, she could explain his complete disregard for someone he claimed to care about and how it seemed to make no difference to him whatsoever that he’d crushed my soul.
I sent Poppy a text asking her if she wanted to come over for some girl time, and she answered almost immediately. Hannah said she’d be over in about an hour, which left me with a bit of time to drag myself off the bed and figure out what we should do for dinner.
I went downstairs and checked to see how much wine we had. Two bottles seemed like enough for three girls, even with the mood I was in. I sent Hannah and Poppy both another text asking if Chinese sounded good to them, and when they said yes, I ordered from a local restaurant for delivery. Then, I headed into the living room to mindlessly watch some Netflix while I waited.
Poppy got there first, since she just lived across the street. “Hey!” she said, coming through the door with open arms. “How are you?” Before I could even respond, she said, “Oh, no. What happened?”
“What? My face tells all my secrets now?” I asked, trying not to cry.