No Place Like Homecoming, Dallen, Maggie [beach read book .TXT] 📗

“Don’t worry, Savannah. I got this.” Callie linked her arm through mine, and Savannah nodded in approval before walking away.

“Is she worried I’m going to ruin another gig?” I asked.

Callie snorted. “Nah. That’s just how she is when you’re a friend of hers.”

I stopped short. “Am I? A friend of hers, I mean?”

Callie’s nose crinkled in confusion. “Of course.”

Willow stopped beside us, her arms filled with books and her hair in that no-nonsense bun she was always sporting. “You okay, Isla?”

I just barely resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “I’m fine.”

And today I actually meant it.

Kind of.

Mostly.

Willow still eyed me from head to toe, her gaze clinical. I got a short nod at the end of it. “Okay, then. But don’t skip lunch, all right?”

I gave her a little salute that made her smile, and then she was off to her next class. All business that one, but I kinda liked that about her.

Callie tugged me along beside her. “Are you gonna join me and the girls for lunch?”

I shook my head. The girls she hung out with at lunch were a nice group, and all, but I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Flynn ever since my aunt showed up and took me home.

He’d texted on Sunday to make sure I was okay, and that text nearly killed me.

The fact that he worried about me when I so didn’t deserve his concern, it shook me to my core.

My aunt had given me space on Sunday, although she made me cookies, which was just...weird. And nice. Also, I really needed to remind her about my low-carb diet. But I’d decided that since she’d gone to the trouble and all, I could afford a cheat day.

But now, today…I couldn’t keep thinking about Flynn. I had to talk to him.

“I was hoping to find Flynn,” I said.

Callie gave me a little smirk. “What’s going on with you two?”

I shook my head, about to say ‘nothing,’ but what came out was, “I don’t know?”

“Fair enough.” She bumped my hip with hers. “Is he gonna take you along on his big road trip?”

I nodded. “He said he would.”

My stomach churned at the thought. Not of the drive. Getting in a car with Flynn and driving far away from everyone and everything sounded kind of amazing, to be honest.

But the thought of what I was driving to, that was the issue.

I was driving back to a life that didn’t want me. And while that fact had pretty much rendered me catatonic on Saturday, I’d had all day yesterday to process. Did I really want to go back to a life that didn’t want me? To parents who thought I’d be in the way and a guy who moved on when I’d been off his radar for less than a week?

What was I so intent on getting back to?

The answers had been depressing, to say the least. But when I’d taken a break from stewing in my own misery, my thoughts had invariably led back to Flynn.

What was he heading to that was so important he’d leave his life here behind?

“Do you guys know when you’re leaving?” Callie asked. “And how long before you two come back? We’re going to miss you guys.”

I turned to stare at Callie’s profile as she led us into the cafeteria.

She meant it. She would actually miss me. And Flynn.

And she had no idea that he wasn’t coming back. I spotted him grabbing his lunch in line and followed him as he headed toward a door leading to the courtyard. Surrounded on all sides by the school, it wasn’t exactly a huge lawn, but with the sun out and a free bench, it looked like heaven.

Flynn sat and I sat beside him. He looked at me. Looked at my empty lap. “You’d better be eating lunch or Savannah will never let you hear the end of it.”

“You heard about her, huh?”

He shrugged. “She looks after people she cares about.”

I frowned. “She shouldn’t care about me.”

He arched his brows as he took a bite of pizza. “But she does.” His gaze moved over me as he chewed. “So does Callie, and Willow, and Mrs. Messner.”

“And you?” The words slipped out.

I was such an idiot. I shouldn’t have asked that. I definitely shouldn’t have put him on the spot, and I shouldn’t have let myself look so pathetic, and—

“And me,” he agreed.

A freakin’ bonfire ignited in my chest at his simple answer. He made it sound so easy, so casual. And I knew he wasn’t, like, declaring his love for me or anything, but it still felt like a big step forward.

Like maybe one day he’d forgive me for being such a brat those first few times we’d met, and such a selfish cow the last couple times we’d interacted.

I looked away when his gaze felt too intense, the look in his eyes way too knowing. “Speaking of the princess troupe,” I said. “They all seem to think you’ll be coming back to Lindale after a quick visit to see your family.”

He turned to face forward, shoving the pizza in his mouth again and ignoring the implied question. After he swallowed, he asked, “Are you going to tell them otherwise?”

“It’s not my place to tell them anything.”

He turned to face me then, his gaze considering.

“So, what’s the deal?” I asked.

He didn’t pretend not to understand. “My mom and my little brothers need me.”

Without prompting he told me how his dad left, how his mom lost her job. By the time he was done, my heart was aching on his behalf. His problems were real ones. My own were pathetic in comparison.

“I’m really sorry, Flynn,” I said.

He looked over with a smile. “Wait, were you the waitress my dad took off with? I thought you looked familiar.”

We shared a stupid laugh over his dark humor. “Hilarious,” I said. “And no. That wasn’t me. But I am the spoiled brat who showed up all put out because I had to work