“Stressed?” Max asks me.
I glance up at him, trying to shake the thoughts of Jay.
“What?”
“You seem stressed. Is it school?”
“Oh.” I glance down at the iPad. “No. No, it’ll be fine.”
I can feel his eyes on me, patiently waiting for the real answer.
When I don’t say anything, he says, “So tell me about Jay.”
Fucking mind reader.
“What is there to say?”
“I don’t know. I’m sure I’ll be talking your ear off about Rose on this trip, so you might as well tell me about the boy that broke your heart. Pity it ended up being one of my brethren.”
“Yeah, bunch of heartbreakers you lot are.”
“I’ll have you know I’ve never broken anyone’s heart.”
“Well, that’s probably not for lack of trying.”
“So what happened with you two?”
I sigh and lean back in my seat, watching the green scenery pass, the clouds hanging low on the sides of the valley. “Do you want the long version or the short version? Both end the same.”
“We have forty-five minutes until we hit Florence and get some clam chowder. I say the long version.”
I exhale loudly. “Okay. Well, I guess it started like it did for you and Rose. He appeared in my life, living next door, and the next thing I knew he was trying to train me. And…I don’t know. I felt something for him I’ve never felt for anyone else before.”
“Was he your first boyfriend?”
I shake my head. “No. I had boyfriends in high school. I didn’t lose my virginity to him, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“I wasn’t asking that.”
“Actually, he was the virgin.”
Max bursts out laughing. “Oh, is that so? You deserve better than that.”
“Hey,” I say, feeling defensive on Jay’s behalf. “He knew what he was doing, okay?”
Max is trying not to smile, though his eyes are dancing. “Fine, I believe you.”
“Anyway, that doesn’t matter. We were good together. Really, really good.”
He gives me a sympathetic wince, cuz obviously looking back, we weren’t that good if it all fell apart.
“I take it Jacob didn’t know,” he says.
“No. Well, not at first. We were able to hide it from him.”
“How?”
“I can put up walls.”
Max glances at me, brows raised. “You can what?”
I manage a smile, enjoying that I caught him off-guard. “I can put up walls. Actual walls that keep people from looking at my head. Or in the case of Jay, at the two of us. I was able to hide us.”
Max lets out a low whistle. “Ada Palomino, you’re impressing me more each day. You ever do that with me?”
“No. Why would I?”
“I reckon you like to keep your thoughts private.”
“Well, are you the nosy type to go prying around in my brain?”
He shakes his head. “I respect you too much for that, darlin’.”
“Even though you knew I was upset about Jay a few minutes ago?”
“I don’t have to read your thoughts to know that. Your sadness radiates off of you. It’s hard to keep away from it.”
“Oh.” Fuck. Am I that obvious? Am I never getting better, never getting over him? Just a walking open wound?
“Luckily, I also feel like shit twenty-four seven, so it doesn’t make any difference to me. Your sorrow, my sorrow, it’s all the same.”
“Well, this is going to be one hell of a fun trip, isn’t it?”
The corner of his mouth lifts as he glances at me. “It’s just the beginning, Ada. It’ll get better.”
And it does get a little bit better when we hit the quaint town of Florence and pull into a chowder house along the Florence River. I’m starving and dying to get out and stretch my legs.
“You know Jay took me to a similar place up in Seaside,” I tell Max as we sit at a table by the window. It’s pretty busy in here so we lucked out with the good seats.
“Is this bringing back the memories?” he asks as he flips over the plastic menu.
“Yeah,” I admit. “But, I mean, it’s not the exact same. You’re here.”
“Lucky you,” he muses, looking over the items on the menu. “So then, what would you recommend?”
“Clam chowder, obviously.”
“Alrighty. I’ll get that. Wanna split a basket of friend shrimp with me too?” he asks.
“Only if it’s the coconut shrimp.”
“Done.”
“And I want a beer.”
“Let me guess, you have a fake ID on you.”
“Nope,” I tell him. “Just want to see if you can get away with it. See my Ginger Jedi in action.”
“Your Ginger Jedi?” he repeats wryly.
“I’m keeping you alive, aren’t I?”
He laughs softly. “I’m going to regret telling you that.”
“Honestly,” I say, getting serious for a moment. “I’m glad you did. I’m so fucking tired of being kept in the dark. That’s where everyone likes to keep me. Jay. Jacob. Perry. Even my dad. I’m the last to know everything. It’s like…no one ever trusts me with the truth. They don’t think I’m mature enough or brave enough to handle it.”