He Cancelled Our Future for Her Anxiety novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: Say It Out Loud

Nobody in the hall said anything for a long time.

The bakery fridge hummed under the floor.

Mrs. Landry looked at Dylan without any anger at all.

"Thank you, Dylan," she said. "That was honest."

I stepped between them.

"It wasn't finished," I said. "Dylan, say the rest."

"Corinne, don't."

"A job. That's what Piper's sweatshirt said, and what her brother said, and what you've been dodging since July. Say it."

He looked at the floor tiles.

Then, in a voice I had never heard him use, he said, "It's a job."

Piper made a small sound.

"They pay my tuition," he said. "They pay my rent. Every semester I sign a form that says I'll keep her steady. And in August they bought my mom's mortgage, so I couldn't say no."

"You said no in July?" I asked.

"I told them I was going to London with you."

I hadn't known that.

I held on to it, and I did not let it soften me.

"Then why was my number on the Phoenix booking?"

His face went red to the ears.

"Because if you came out there, I wouldn't have to pick."

"You'd have the money, and Piper, and me."

"Yes."

"And I'd have followed you for free."

"I thought you would," he said. "You always did."

I waited for the anger to arrive.

What came was quieter and much worse. I was only tired of him.

"You didn't cancel our future for her anxiety," I said. "You sold it, and you told me it was for her."

"That's not fair."

"Which part?"

He had no answer.

Piper had her hand over her mouth.

"Dylan," she said through her fingers. "I never wanted you to do that. I wanted you to do your homework and be bad at soccer."

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