“Whatever. You choose to spend your time here. It’s useless.” She walked past me. “Grayson, come on. Let’s go,” she called.
He made another circle in the sand and ran toward us. His hair clung to his forehead. Even with the sun going down, he was sweaty. I bent down, wrapping my arms around him.
“Have fun on your trip. I’ll see you next week.”
He rubbed his nose over mine. I laughed. I hadn’t letting him out of my arms. It never got easier.
I rose and faced Amber. “Text me.”
She sighed. “I will.” She reached her hand out. “Come on, let’s get you buckled in your car seat.”
He ran next to her. Five minutes later they were gone. Although, I had no idea where my son was going.
Three
Kaitlyn
Once we landed in Houston, I pulled my bag from underneath the seat and turned my phone on. I had three missed calls from Branch. I didn’t want to talk to him. My anger toward him suffocated any creeping curiosity about why he was calling after three days of utter silence.
I still had one puddle jumper flight to Brownsville. From there, I would hop on the resort shuttle that would take me to South Padre.
“You be careful, young lady. Those Padre vacations can get a little out of control,” the man next to me warned. He had not taken any of my subtle hints.
I smiled, scooted down the aisle, and walked off the plane.
I had enough time between my flights to call Mary Ellen, my roommate for the past four years. She was like the sister I never had. I tapped her name on my screen and waited for her to answer.
“Hey. How is Texas? Are you there?”
“Yes.I’m in Houston, waiting for my next flight.” I observed the passengers walking past me. I had never seen so many cowboy boots worn in one place. Everyone had them on.
“We just checked into the hotel and we’re headed to happy hour. You doing ok?”
“Happy hour?”
“There are graduation parties everywhere,” she explained. “I think it’s happy hour all the time this week. How are you doing? Have you heard from Branch?”
I didn’t want to talk about Branch, but Mary Ellen was worried and I knew she would keep pestering me about him until I said something. If the roles were reversed, I would do exactly the same thing.
“He called three times when I was in the air, but I haven’t talked to him. I don’t want to.”
“I get that but, what if you run into him in Padre? Don’t you two need to talk?” I could hear girls screaming in the background.
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
“I know you’re being strong, but you don’t have to pretend for me. You’ve got to be worried about seeing him. Admit that at least.”
I wasn’t willing to admit anything. My emotions seesawed between numbness and anger. Mary Ellen had tried to talk me out of the trip, but it didn’t work. I needed to focus on something to keep me from thinking about what Branch had said. Packing, boarding a flight, and making my way to this vacation kept me from fixating on what happened between us.
“I’m fine. Stop worrying about me. South Padre is going to be the perfect vacay to get over the asshole. I couldn’t dream up a better way to forget him.” I smiled into the phone.
“He is the asshole. Do I need to write a list for you of all the stuff he did? It might be just what you need. I read in a Cosmo article somewhere that if you make a list of all the bad things in your relationship it will help with closure. If you need me to start it, I’d put how he backed out as your plus one for your cousin’s wedding right at the last minute as number one. He was probably the worst boyfriend.”
Mary Ellen always had my back whether or not she liked my relationship with Branch. “Thanks for the offer, but I have the memories, unfortunately.”
“I bet you could still change your flight. Why don’t you fly back and we’ll spend our this week together—like we should have planned all along before Branch hijacked it. It’s just not the same without you here.”
Mary Ellen’s words struck a guilty nerve. She was right. I shouldn’t have planned a post-graduation vacation with my boyfriend. I should be with my best friend.