This was the first she was hearing of this. When she’d asked him before about his plans post-graduation, he was always undecided. He said he was thinking of college, but he wasn’t sure yet. The thought of him moving out here for good was a bit consoling.

“You really think your parents will be okay with that?”

“I don’t see why not.”

Suddenly feeling a lot better, she remembered he might get in trouble about using his mom’s minutes. She didn’t want to add even one more day to his sentence, so she told him to text her instead.

They texted for a while longer before Vincent said he had to go wash his dad’s car, but he promised again about getting his own cell phone line.

Rose lay there in bed chastising herself for that ugly feeling in her stomach. She needed to let go of the fact that this had all happened because it ticked Vincent off that the idiot on the bike had bumped Anita. He sounded wholeheartedly remorseful about having reacted the way he had. She’d seen him react before, knew it was in him to just snap without thinking, but to chance something like this when they’d been so close? It was all they’d talked about lately.

Enough. He made a mistake, and he was just anguished about this as she was. She wouldn’t hold it against him forever. As a matter of fact he was already forgiven.

CHAPTER TEN

Vince

Having no credit was apparently as bad as having bad credit. Vince was looking at having to come up with a hefty deposit if he was going to get his own cell phone account. Getting a pay-per-use one where he’d pay to add minutes was also too expensive. He and Rose would blow through those minutes in no time. It would be cheaper if he just stayed on his mom’s account and paid her to add more minutes, unlimited nights, and weekends to their plan. He told his mom he’d pick up a part-time job at the hardware store on the weekends to help with the added expense.

Thankfully she agreed. Being able to hear Rose’s voice now instead of just texting alleviated the incredible need to be with her a little. But he was still mad at himself for not having just walked away from f**king Randy and costing himself a month away from Rose.

The month dragged on, and just a few days before he and his parents were scheduled to make the trip out to La Jolla, he and Rose had their first spat.

Since they’d become a couple, he rarely went to any parties. Rose hadn’t asked him to cut down; he’d started cutting down even before Rose. The parties in his area almost always ended in trouble. Since he’d decided to get his shit straight, parties were one of the first things he began avoiding. But not all could be avoided: Alfonso’s birthday party yesterday for example. Alfonso was one of Vince’s closest friends since they’d been kids. Alfonso even offered to pick him up from work then have someone drive him home when he was ready because Vince told him he wouldn’t be able to hang around long.

“You went to a party?” Rarely had Vince heard Rose sound irritated, but the irritation came through loud and clear. “I thought they grounded you from everything.”

“Well, yeah. But my dad doesn’t know my exact schedule at the hardware store. I told him I was off at nine. And I got home just a little after nine. Alfonso said he’d have someone drop me off just as soon as I was ready, and Ray-Ray dropped me off ten minutes after nine. My parents didn’t even question it.”

Instead of that calming her, she raised her voice. “Ray-Ray dropped you off?”

“Yeah,” he responded without even thinking then it hit him. Shit!

“Isn’t he the one that’s still doing the drug dealing?”

“Yes, babe, but he wasn’t dealing yesterday. We were all just kicking it at Alfonso’s. His parents were there, and the only thing we had was beer.”

“You had beer?”

Well, hell! “One,” he said standing up and moving away from where the guys were sitting on the front stairs with him. Alfonso was already smirking. “I had one. My dad doesn’t have a problem with me having a beer or two here and there, as long as I’m not driving.”

“But you’re grounded, Vincent. So you weren’t even supposed to be there, and on top of that you were drinking. Then!” she gasped. “Then you go and get in a car with a drug dealer!” She lowered her voice almost to a whisper. “Are you deliberately trying to sabotage this summer for us?”

“No! Of course not.”

“Then why would you do that?” She didn’t sound mad anymore. She sounded wounded. “If there’d been a fight or something at that party or if Ray-Ray had gotten pulled over for any reason and they’d found drugs on him, you both would’ve been taken in. I don’t understand why you would take such a chance.”

“Alfonso is my best buddy, and it was his birthday.”

“So he’s important to you?”

“You’re more important,” he said firmly and a little annoyed that she’d imply she wasn’t.

“I gotta go.”

“Rosie, wait.”

“No. I can’t even talk to you right now.”

“Really? You’re that mad about this?”

“Vincent, I’m more hurt than mad. You know I’m dying to see you again.”

Now he was so mad at himself he wanted to spit. Not for telling her, but because she was absolutely right, and she had every reason to be hurt. He’d already f**ked things up once. He just hadn’t thought it was a big deal. He was certain it would go as smoothly as it had, but it was still a risk.