I shake my head, realizing this isn’t going to play out well, no matter what I say. “All right,” I tell K. J., “you can go now.”
Both Lexi’s and Maddie’s brows shoot up, probably because they’ve never heard me speak to anyone that way. But I’m not in the mood for K. J.’s crap today. She doesn’t budge but instead takes a sip from one of the coffees. A wicked smile pulls at her lips. “She’s probably told you guys all about the affair, too, huh?”
My mouth drops open. Now she’s going to bring it up? In front of my friends? I never dreamed she’d stoop that low.
“What affair?” Maddie asks, her forehead wrinkling in obvious confusion.
The wickedness spreads to K. J.’s eyes now. “You know, the one my mom had with her dad. It’s why our moms hate each other.” She pauses, her evil gaze shifting to me. “And it’s why we aren’t exactly the best of friends, either.”
Two twenty-something girls sitting nearby are staring at K. J., too, now, no doubt having heard all that, and I can feel the heat creeping up my neck.
“Oh my god,” Maddie whispers, looking horrified.
K. J. seems completely unfazed by all of our reactions. She puts on her fakest smile. “Well, catcha later, ladies. Have a good day.”
I’m left speechless and staring after my cousin as she strides across the street and climbs into the passenger side of a faded black truck some long-haired boy is driving.
“I’m so sorry,” Lexi says.
“Me too,” Maddie says.
Just one look at my friends reassures me that they truly are. But the damage is done. The heat has spread to my entire face now, and I’m guessing I’m somewhere around the color of a beet. There’s no hiding what happened now.
CHAPTER 16K. J.
“HOW MANY MORE BOXES?” I ASK, TAKING ONE LAST drag of my cigarette and putting it out with the toe of my flip-flop.
“Just a few.” Carter stands on his front porch with two pillows tucked beneath one arm and a rolled up navy blue bedspread beneath the other. He hurries down the steps and crams the bedding into the cab of his truck. I follow him back inside the trailer to help get the last of his stuff. His mom is at work, and he wants to finish moving everything before she gets home. Otherwise, it won’t be pretty. He’s already two days past his deadline.
“God, what’s in here?” I ask as I heave a box from the floor of what used to be his bedroom.
Carter peers in the crack at the top. “That’s all my games. And the PS4. Want me to get it?”
“Nah, I got it,” I shift the box in my arms and carry it to the front door. “Guess I didn’t realize you had so many.”
“I’m a man of many talents.”
“Pshh, whatever.”
We make our way outside, and I push the box into an empty spot in the rusted bed of the truck and head back in for another. The next one is much lighter—full of his band T-shirts and socks by the looks of it. “It’s gonna be really weird not having you living here anymore.”
“Yeah, I know, but you can drop by our place any time you want.”
I lean back against the side of his truck. “Who am I gonna bum smokes from when I’m out?”
He sets his box on the tailgate and turns to sit down. “I’ll just be a few miles away, so you can still bum smokes. And besides, it’s usually me bumming smokes from you.”
“True.” I gaze up into the oak tree that grows on the dividing line between our lots. A half-rotted piece of plywood still sits cradled between the three main branches. Carter and I built a fort the summer after he first moved here, and we spent plenty of time up there in the years that followed. I can’t remember when we got too cool for our hangout, but looking at it now makes my chest ache a little.
Carter follows my gaze but says nothing. I’m not sure he has a sentimental bone in his body, but maybe that’s just guys for you. He makes one last trip inside, returning with a couple CDs and a half-empty bottle of Dr Pepper. “Wanna come with? I could drop you back by later.”
I stare at my feet. “Nah, I’ve got some stuff to do, and I need to go down to the library to fill out my college application.”
“To NorthWest Arkansas?”
I meet his eyes. “Yep. Looks like community college might be my only hope for now.”
Carter gives me a thumbs-up. “I believe in you, Katherine James.”
I roll my eyes, but I can’t stop my smile. “Don’t call me that.”
“Why not?” he says, teasing. “It’s your real name. You should be proud of it.”
I shake my head, my smile growing bigger now. “Shut up, Carter Gilbert.”
“Okay, okay, I have a sucky middle name, too.” He hops into the cab of the truck and gives me a wave. “I’ll see ya around.”
“Yeah, see ya,” I mumble.
The truck door slams shut and the engine groans to life. I pull another cigarette from my pocket and light up as he backs out of the drive. The nicotine doesn’t calm me like it usually does; instead, a hollow feeling carves its way into my chest. I sit down on the top porch step with a sigh. “Fuck.”
Mom always says you don’t know how much you miss something until it goes away. Carter hasn’t even been gone for a minute and I miss him already.
“Miss Walker?” The voice on the phone is familiar, but I can’t seem to place it.
I decide to play it nice in case it’s someone from the community college inquiring about the online application I submitted yesterday. “Yes? Um, speaking.”
Mom peers at me over the top of her romance novel, probably wondering why I’m being so polite.
“This is Jeffrey Sisco, your grandfather’s lawyer.”
“Oh,
