“Just a minute.” Keira’s chest tightened as she moved along the hall to her bedroom. She left the door open and dropped her bag by the bed. At the sound of Mel’s voice, she turned to find her and Noah in the doorway.
“Noah’s here!” Mel said excitedly.
“I can see that.” She watched his features morph from excitement to confusion.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I told you not to come this weekend.” She avoided meeting his eye and sank onto the edge of the bed.
“I wanted to see you,” he said. “I couldn’t wait.”
“You shouldn’t have come,” she mumbled as she wiped her hands over her face.
“What’s going on?” Mel asked, stepping into the room. “Have you been crying?”
Finally, Keira forced herself to look at Noah. “I don’t want you here.”
“Why?” He swallowed hard. “What’s going on?”
Mel sat close beside her. “What’s happened?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to be alone.”
Mel frowned, then looked at Noah and asked him to give them a minute. Reluctantly, he left.
“Tell me what happened?” Mel said once they were alone. “Were you at your parents’ place?”
She nodded solemnly. “Possibly for the last time … I don’t think I’ll be welcome there any more.”
“Why?”
“He said my dad’s a gambling addict,” she said angrily.
“Who did?”
“Noah. He put the idea in my head … then tonight I ended up having a massive row with Dad about money.”
Mel tilted her head. “Your dadisa gambling addict. And it’s about time you stood up to him about all the money he takes from you.”
“You don’t understand.” Every muscle in Keira’s body tensed. “You and Noah have these perfect families and you think anything less is unacceptable. But they’re my family. I don’t even know if my dad will ever speak to me again. None of this would have happened if Noah hadn’t got in my head.”
“It’s not Noah’s fault. Don’t take it out on him when he’s come all this way to see you.”
“Am I supposed to be grateful?” she snapped. “Because you seem to have forgotten that he left me. If he really cared he wouldn’t have left. I never wanted a long-distance relationship and he knew that. But he chose to leave anyway.”
“Of course Noah cares about you. He wouldn’t be here otherwise. Talk to him and you’ll feel better.”
Keira walked to the door and grabbed the handle to pull it wide open. “I don’t want to talk to him. I don’t even want to look at him. All I want is for him to leave.”
“Just take a minute to calm down,” Mel said.
Keira glared at her. “Can you get out of my room, please?”
“You have to speak to Noah,” Mel said as she walked out.
“I don’t have to do anything.” She caught Noah loitering in the hallway and their eyes locked for long enough to know he’d heard every word she’d said. The bedroom door banged as she slammed it shut.
Lying on the bed, her body seemed to deflate, taking all the fight out of her. She didn’t even have enough energy to cry. She felt a vague tug of guilt over the way she’d spoken to Mel and the things she’d said about Noah, but it had been the truth. Not that it mattered; all of that was eclipsed by how terrible she felt about the things she’d said to her dad and the way he hadn’t been able to look her in the eye when she’d left.