Lost Stars (The Jewel Project #3)

02.1|| And Then They Were Back

One day. Just one more day until school started. And there was still no sign of Angie. Tom sat in his back yard, his back pressed against the trunk of their large oak tree, trying to drive her out of his mind. At least Kay would be arriving later in the afternoon and maybe she knew something about Angie. They were best friends after all. But his hopes weren't high. Kay had moved back to Texas, Angie was in Arizona and Jessie... heaven only knew where Jessie was.

Why did these minor things make life suck so much? He should be grateful to be alive. But as he watched the coppery leaves dancing to the ground, Tom realized it didn't matter how much he had now. He didn't have her and she was all he needed to be happy. And I thought Sam was pathetic. Ugh.

"What are you doing?" Jimmy came towards him from the kitchen and dropped next to him on the grass before Tom could even answer. "You nervous about school tomorrow?"

"Not really. I'm more..." Tom hesitated. He wanted to tell Jimmy about Angie and how he missed her and had no idea when she was coming back, but he didn't want to open the Jessie box because it was so much worse.

"You're more worried about Angie." Jimmy filled in the blanks with ease.

Tom only nodded. For a while, they sat in silence, listening to the rustle of the wind and the occasional passing car. From time to time, they could hear pots in the kitchen which meant Jerry was probably getting ready for dinner. To welcome Kay back.

"Did you try calling Jessie?" Tom finally asked because the curiosity was eating him alive. If all the other girls were back, why would Jessie be different? She didn't have an alternative reason to dump Jimmy.

Fortunately, Jimmy didn't seem bothered by the question. His shoulders slumped, but he took a big breath and answered, "Of course I did."

This didn't sound good. "And?"

Jimmy fished inside the pocket of his jeans and pulled out his phone. He tapped the screen and showed it to Tom. He'd opened his messages. The latest one was dated yesterday and was from Jessie.

Please stop calling.

Which was a real improvement from the one above it which said Stop stalking me, asshole. No means no.

"At least she said please," Tom said, hoping to get a smile out of Jimmy.

His brother only sighed and put the phone away. "I don't understand. It all happened so suddenly and I keep thinking, what if she never comes back?"

"I'm sure she will, Jimmy. Everyone else in the agency is moving here."

"She wouldn't care," Jimmy mumbled, and Tom was sure he was right. Jessie wouldn't be bullied into anything. "I've been thinking, you know. About going after her. But that would be just... wrong. Because I would be taking away her choice."

"What choice?" Tom asked surprised.

"To leave me. To stay away from me. Maybe something happened, maybe I don't understand. It hurts. It hurts a lot. It hurts much more than—" His voice cracked and he looked at his fingers.

Tom gritted his teeth. He knew what Jimmy meant. It hurt worse than when he'd broken up with his last girlfriend and that had been pretty messed up. Tom didn't even want to think about that time, about how broken Jimmy had been, about the scars that dreaded sea urchin had left behind. On both of them.

"It's more than that, isn't it? This time," he whispered.

Jimmy nodded. "Much more. This wasn't all lust and excitement and experiment. This was real. It was home. It was comfort, it was..." He looked up at Tom, his eyes filled with pain. "It was me. The missing part of me. That's why I have to let her go, respect her choice. Not force myself on her, not insist. Because no matter what, she deserves my respect. So I'll respect her wishes, her choices, even if I don't understand, even if I feel like I ran into a wall and broke everything. Maybe... maybe I have to let her go, even if it kills me."