The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 496

Sloane stared up at him. Her dark eyes bored into his face as if trying to excavate the truth from his very expression.

Her fingers were still resting on the rim of the coffee cup. Her fingertips trembled slightly, but her voice was dead steady.

"Garrison, are you telling me the truth?"

"Yes."

Garrison picked up his coffee and took a sip. It tasted bitter. So bitter it made his throat tighten.

"Ha. I don't believe you."

Sloane pushed the cup away, grabbed her coat from the back of the chair, and stood up. She looked down at him, her eyes brimming with disappointment.

"If you don't want to tell me, fine. But don't treat me like an idiot."

"Sloane!" Garrison panicked, standing up to block her path. "Where are you going?"

"Home."

"I'll drive you." Garrison grabbed his coat.

"Don't bother. I wouldn't want to waste Dr. Foster's precious time."

Sloane turned, pushed open the glass door, and walked out. The wind chimes above the door let out a chaotic jingle. Cold wind rushed in through the gap, blowing the napkins off the table.

Garrison was left standing in place, watching her figure vanish into the pitch-black night.

...

The biting winter wind howled through the intersection. Sloane shivered, pulling her coat tighter around herself.

The streets were mostly deserted. The streetlights cast the shadows of the bare sycamore branches onto the pavement, swaying wildly in the wind.

She walked with her head down, her mind replaying Garrison's white-knuckled grip on the cup and his resolute "No." He was lying through his teeth!

Josh had just finished his geology class. He walked out of the lecture hall with his notes tucked under his arm when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He glanced at the caller ID—Piper. He answered, but before he could say a word, she practically yelled into the receiver.

"Professor Jace, have you seen Sloane today?"

"No. What's wrong?" Josh didn't break his stride, keeping his notes pinned under his arm.

"She didn't show up for class today. It was psychology, her favorite. Her professor said this is the very first time she's ever skipped."

"Plus, Sloane and I agreed to have lunch together today. I've been waiting since eleven. I've called her seven or eight times. She's not answering, and she's not texting back—"

Piper's words tumbled out like rapid fire, her voice trembling by the end of her sentence. "She never does this. Even if something came up, she'd text me beforehand."

"I thought she was with you..."

Josh stopped dead in his tracks.

He thought back to last night, to how heavily something seemed to be weighing on Sloane's mind. The invisible string of tension he had felt since yesterday suddenly snapped taut.