BooksBarbecue
Back First Comes Love
Chapters (92)
  1. First
  2. Love Connection
  3. Zero
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. One Month Later
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Six Months Later
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-one
  27. Twenty-two
  28. Twenty-three
  29. Twenty-four
  30. Six Months Later
  31. Twenty-five
  32. Twenty-six
  33. Twenty-seven
  34. Twenty-eight
  35. Twenty-nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-one
  38. Thirty-two
  39. Thirty-three
  40. I Have Never
  41. One
  42. Two
  43. Three
  44. Four
  45. Five
  46. Six
  47. Seven
  48. Eight
  49. Nine
  50. Ten
  51. Eleven
  52. Twelve
  53. Thirteen
  54. Fourteen
  55. Fifteen
  56. Sixteen
  57. Seventeen
  58. Eighteen
  59. Nineteen
  60. Twenty
  61. Twenty-one
  62. Twenty-two
  63. A Christmas Date
  64. One
  65. Two
  66. Three
  67. Four
  68. Five
  69. Six
  70. Seven
  71. Eight
  72. Nine
  73. Ten
  74. Eleven
  75. Twelve
  76. Thirteen
  77. Fourteen
  78. Fifteen
  79. Sixteen
  80. Seventeen
  81. Eighteen
  82. Nineteen
  83. Twenty
  84. Twenty-one
  85. Twenty-two
  86. Note from the Author
  87. Sneak Peek – To the Stars and Back
  88. Two
  89. Three
  90. Four
  91. Also by Camilla Isley
  92. About the Author

On the drive home, all I can think about is Diego and what I’m going to say to him. There are no excuses for what I did. I can only apologize and hope he forgives me.

***

At home, Paul makes the mistake of going in through the front door. We pulled up in my street only seconds apart, but as he walked up the main walkway, I snuck around the house to use the back door.

The short trek through knee-deep snow proves worth the hassle as I gingerly open the rear door and hear my parents assail Paul with questions.

“…the kitchen looked like a war zone,” Mom’s saying. “You and Nikki were gone.”

Dad chimes in. “And we couldn’t get Julia to stop sobbing and come out of her room…”

I don’t wait to hear how Paul is going to dig himself out of this hole. Walking on tiptoes, I slip inside the house and up the stairs to my room with no one noticing me.

Diego isn’t in my room. And I can’t help but notice the space seems half-empty.

Because it is.

All his stuff is gone. His clothes, his bag, his jacket. I take in all the empty spots where his things should’ve been, until my eyes land on a crumpled brown envelope lying on the bed. Propped on top of it is a set of keys—the spare for my apartment that I gave Diego.

I toss the car keys on my desk and sit on the bed, clutching the envelope in my hands. I know what’s inside; still, I open it and shuffle through the wad of cash. A tight pull in my chest makes it hard to breathe. Even as my face flushes with heat and my palms pool with sweat, I feel cold.

Diego is gone. The message he left couldn’t be clearer. Nevertheless, I jump off the bed and ransack the room in search of a note or anything else that would explain his absence. But there’s nothing.

I shouldn’t have left without talking to him. No, I was right, I needed to find Paul and fix things. Diego is the one who should’ve waited for me. No matter how mad he is with me, running away isn’t the answer.

I fish my phone out of my bag and call him.

The call goes unanswered.

I dial his number again and wait in vain.

On my third attempt, I get sent straight to voicemail.

Avoiding me, are you?

Oooooh, but he’s not going to get out of this so easily. Nuh-uh. I mean, he doesn’t have a car or his stupid bike; how far could he have gotten? Not very far. I can still catch him, wherever he is.