The Summer Girlfriend (Heart Beach, #1)(93)
Noelle took a step closer. She was back to wringing her hands again. “I…I should probably go home.”
Jeremiah snapped to attention. “Wait, what?”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Noelle’s stomach tied itself in knots as Jeremiah stared at her in distress.
“There’s so much that you and your family need to talk about, and I’m in the way by being here,” she said. Jeremiah’s brows furrowed as he shook his head in confusion. “I’ll take the bus home. At least one that will get me to Newark. I can figure out my way to Brickton from there.”
Her mind buzzed as her thoughts clambered over each other. She’d opted not to tell Jeremiah about Celeste and Percy’s plans because she thought it was best that they told him themselves. But in an effort not to insert herself, she’d still done so anyway. Now Jeremiah and Percy had fought. And she’d intended to tell his family the truth about her job, but she hadn’t wanted the truth to unexpectedly land like a bomb in the middle of dinner. Her chest tightened as she recalled Celeste, Amara, and Robin and their hurt expressions. She wished that she could go back to their first dinner together earlier this summer and make it so that she’d never lied. She’d barely known the Smiths then, and she’d been so intimidated. She’d had no way of knowing how little they would have cared about her job, and how much they’d come to care about her.
But she wasn’t just stressed about the situation with Jeremiah’s family. All day, she’d been berating herself for forgetting to schedule her meeting with Professor Mathis. How could she have forgotten? But she knew how. Yesterday, she’d been busy running around with her head in the clouds and hearts in her eyes. How could she not view this as a bad omen? How many more things would she lose sight of while her heart was focused on Jeremiah?
“Noelle, you’re not in the way.” Jeremiah searched her face, his gaze imploring. “How could you think that? Did I make you feel that way?”
“No, of course not,” she said. “You haven’t done anything wrong. The truth is that I just feel really overwhelmed right now. It’s already enough that I lied to your family about my job, but the way they found out makes it worse. I feel so embarrassed and guilty. And then there’s the situation with my advisor meeting. I can’t believe I missed the sign-up. I don’t know. I think I just should go.”
She didn’t want to leave, but she had to. She needed to be alone in order to think clearly. Because right now she was smack-dab in the middle of the Smiths and their drama, and she was afraid that she’d done the very thing she’d been determined to avoid for so long: lose focus on herself.
Jeremiah’s face fell. He nodded, resigned. “I understand if you want to go home,” he said quietly. “I do. But I’m not letting you take the bus. I’ll drive you.”
“No, you need to stay here and talk to your family,” she said. “What Percy said to you about not caring wasn’t fair, but he was right about one thing. You do have secrets, Jeremiah. You haven’t told your family the real reason behind why you left the company because it means you’ll have to tell them about your last conversation with your grandfather. You’ve let Percy think you left because you’re selfish, but you’re not. I hate that he has the wrong idea about who you are, all because you’re afraid to tell your family about what happened. And you should tell them the real reason you avoided coming to Heart Beach before you brought me here. That it was about your grief.”
“Okay,” Jeremiah said. “I’ll tell them. I will. But I can tell them later after I drive you home.”
“No, please stay here.” She hated the hurt look on his face, but him staying and talking to his family was way more important than him giving her a ride home. The last thing that she wanted to do was hurt Jeremiah, but right now, he needed to be with his family, and she needed to put herself first.
She walked back inside, and Jeremiah was right behind her. Celeste and Amara were hovering in the kitchen entryway, while Percy and Robin stood by the staircase. From the way they each turned their heads to look at Noelle and Jeremiah as they walked inside, it was clear that his family had been waiting for them.
Noelle tensed, shrouded in guilt over her lie. She was eager to get out of Dodge and call less attention to herself, but Percy cleared his throat and said, “Noelle, wait. Please.”
She turned to Percy sharply, surprised that he’d singled her out. He looked at her sheepishly with slumped shoulders. Jeremiah stepped around Noelle and placed himself between her and Percy. He stared his brother down with suspicion.
“I owe you an apology, Noelle,” Percy said. “It was unfair of me to put you on blast in front of everyone like that, especially when I told you that I wouldn’t say anything. I shouldn’t have involved you, and I’m sorry.” He paused and rubbed his jaw. “For the record, I personally don’t care if you’re a librarian or not either.”
Noelle blinked, caught off guard by the sincerity of Percy’s apology. He glanced apprehensively at Jeremiah, who continued to stare him down.
“Thank you,” Noelle said. She wished Percy hadn’t exposed her lie the way he had, but she could tell that he’d said it in a fit of frustration directed toward Jeremiah. And anyway, she’d chosen to lie in the first place. How could she be mad at Percy for telling the rest of the family, whether it was intentional or not? She looked around at the rest of the Smiths. “I’m really sorry again for lying to you about my job. I wish that I could go back and redo that night and tell you the truth. I know there’s a lot that you all need to discuss, so I’m going to go home now. Thank you for being so welcoming to me this summer.”