He couldn’t deal with his girlfriend singing the same tune. Not that she had, but Finn knowing her birthday had passed felt an awful lot like his father singing his praises. It made Giovanni feel inadequate and threatened in some uncomfortable and insecure way he didn’t like.
On top of everything else, why did Erin have to have a history with Finn?
It wasn’t just her history with his cousin, it was the way they stayed friends. The way Finn point-blank told him he was protective of her.
Giovanni didn’t know why this had been eating at him so much. Finn was totally bonkers in love with Mallory. Mallory even pulled Giovanni aside at the bar and told him how happy they were for him and Erin. Finn only knew her birthday because they’d dated since the third grade. They had a history, that was all. Erin’s future was totally up for grabs.
On the drive home from the city, after the show, it finally hit him. He wanted a future with Erin. Not just whatever they were doing now, but a long-term connection he could count on. He was falling in love with her, and if she didn’t even think to tell him it was her birthday, what did that say about her feelings for him or lack thereof?
She was so damn guarded and he understood why, but sometimes their relationship centered so much around her needs that his went completely ignored. He didn’t want to be a needy bitch, but he expected her to consider his emotions at least once in a while. Christ, he wasn’t even sure if she thought about him at all when they were apart. Meanwhile, she was a steady obsession filling his mind.
By the time he returned to Jasper Falls he was more confused than ever. Maybe he was getting in over his head. What if Erin was giving him the most she’d ever be able to give? Was it enough for him? Could he deal with always being an afterthought?
It was hard enough trying to navigate her moods and convince her that socializing with his family wasn’t going to kill her. Last week, he wanted to walk into town for a muffin and coffee and she threw a fit. She acted like he suggested slowly pulling her fingernails off. In the end, she made a pot of coffee at home and gave him a stale muffin from the basket Skylar made, which she still refused to put away.
When he pulled into his parents’ driveway, the house was dark. He set the car in park and debated going to Erin’s. Maybe they should talk. Did she even realize he’d been gone for two days? His phone hadn’t rung once.
Yanking his keys out of the ignition, he turned off the car and went inside. This time, she was going to have to be the one to fix it.
Erin closed the last box of her father’s personal items and taped it shut. Cleaning out his bedroom, a room she had never been allowed to enter, had been an incredibly draining experience.
She hated the feel of his belongings and the tobacco-drenched stench of his furniture. She’d gone through the entire house and not found a single keepsake from her childhood. He’d kept nothing as if all the macaroni necklaces and homemade holiday cards had been meaningless.
She took his bed frame apart and carried the long bars to the curb, setting them beside the mattress and box spring. Every time she dismantled another piece of him, she felt lighter but no more stable than before.
Giovanni hadn’t called in days. She figured things would eventually end, and she’d thought she’d done a good job at keeping her guard up, but he’d forced himself into her quiet world and…she missed him.
Foolishly, she told herself they were just on a break, but deep down she knew he wasn’t coming back. Like everyone else, he had enough.
As she gathered up the laundry from the hamper and sorted it to wash, she came across Giovanni’s sweater and paused. Holding the soft knit material in two hands, she brought it to her nose and breathed in his comforting scent. Her eyes closed as tears of regret surfaced.
She wanted to apologize and fix them, but she didn’t know how. It would have been one thing if she’d missed his birthday, but it was her birthday. What did it matter to him? If she didn’t care about it, why should he?
Why had she been so difficult? Why couldn’t she just be normal and easy like other girls? He was one of the few people in Jasper Falls that was actually nice to her, and she screwed it up.
She slammed the lid of the washing machine and set it to start, carrying his sweater back up to her room and placing it safely in her drawer.