The Checklist by Addie Woolridge (color ebook reader TXT) 📗

“That’s absolutely not true.”

“The thing is, years of cruising with your parents, and I never tell them it’s odd, because I respect them and I love you. That is what you do for your partner: love their familial quirks.”

“Mine aren’t odd, and they certainly aren’t the mess you have. I see no reason to pretend.”

Dylan’s head jerked sharply from the parking lot to where her family was standing, now openly listening and completely offended. Her head felt light. Was this what their relationship was? Her talking and him ignoring? Constantly correcting and restructuring her? Was the order he brought to her life worth shrinking every last piece of herself? She couldn’t get any smaller. There was nothing left to shrink unless she disappeared altogether.

Dylan’s upper lip curled. “It’s like you didn’t hear a damn thing I said. So maybe you’ll hear this. Find a different ride to the airport. Then find a different girlfriend.”

“Oh!” Bernice shouted, forgetting to be an observer. Dylan turned on her heel and began a dash to her car that would have made an Olympic sprinter jealous. Her only goal was to get in the car before Nicolas had a chance to say so much as a single but, babe . . .

“See you at home,” Henry called from across the parking lot. “Proud of you.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Dylan shouted, trying not to feel completely uncool as she leaped into the driver’s side and slammed the lock button. She could hear Nicolas shout something shrill but couldn’t make out the words. Forcing the car to start, she took a deep breath and tried to steady her hands.

“This is okay. You are a smart girl, and you are going to be okay.” She repeated a silly mantra she had read in Your AAA magazine. She took one deep breath and glanced in the rearview.

“Oh shit.”

Nicolas was making his way toward the car and standing in her way so she couldn’t back out. “I am not doing this,” she shouted at the rearview mirror before realizing that he couldn’t hear her. Without thinking, she threw the car in drive. The SUV groaned as she drove over the cement parking block into the flower bed.

“Sorry. Sorry. Sorry,” she apologized to the plants, her shoulders bunching toward her ears. She had just enough time to be grateful there weren’t any pedestrians on the sidewalk when she cruised over the curb and onto the road.

Glancing back to the parking lot, she could see Nicolas standing there flummoxed, hands outstretched like she might still try to back out. Across the street Neale was sitting on the sidewalk shaking with laughter, while Bernice raised the Black Power fist, wiping tears of glee from her eyes. Henry was in the middle of a one-man slow clap.

Dylan blew through a yellow light, rounded the corner, and felt herself relax. Sure, she had destroyed her relationship, but at least she’d never have to listen to Skrillex again.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“What did I even do?” Dylan asked Milo, a cup of coffee tucked into her lap. The massive dog wasn’t adding a lot to the conversation, but he was taking up most of her twin bed, so there was that. Reaching out her foot to give the dog a tummy rub, she looked out the window. The skies were getting rough, and a big rain was headed her way, echoing the maelstrom in her head.

“The thing is, dog, I’m not upset about this. Maybe I’m numb right now?”

Milo moved a little to the left, seeking a better scratch.

When she’d gotten home, Dylan had immediately gone to her room, and for the first time in her life, her family had given her the blessed gift of privacy. Probably because they were still talking about the morning’s incident and didn’t feel they needed her opinion on the proceedings. Bernice had brought her a cup of coffee and a granite hug, but other than that she was on her own to work through the end of her relationship.

She had expected waterworks and the big pitiful moments that had characterized her college breakups. When Dylan was younger and she and a boyfriend had gotten in a fight, she would find her baggiest, saggiest pair of sweatpants and wallow in her sense of loss until a friend forced her to get glammed up and go out or the threat of poor grades had dragged her to class. Instead, she’d spent the better part of the last few hours staring into space, alternating between rage at having spent so much time with someone who couldn’t find it in himself to even feign decency and the desire to try to work it out. Dylan looked over at her phone. Nicolas was probably just going through airport security. She could catch him before he got on the plane, and they could try to find a way forward.

A way forward that didn’t include her family. Dylan cringed. Her family wasn’t perfect, but if today proved anything, it was that they were there for her, in their own weird way. Any other family in the country would have been ashamed of a child defacing a flower bed to get away from an angry ex. Her parents were delighted by it. They were proud of anything she did that went against the social grain. And while Dylan couldn’t say that she understood the pride that came with watching your child deface public beautification efforts, she was grateful for it just the same.

But Nicolas had good traits. He was circumstantially funny, and he always organized their bathroom without her ever having to mention it. He made dinner reservations so they didn’t waste time waiting in unnecessary lines. It wasn’t like she had spent the last few years with a monster. At least she didn’t think she had.

“He’s on the board of the local youth center, for goodness’ sake! It isn’t like he’s evil,” Dylan said to the dog, who