“I was so scared,” she whispered, trying to remain as calm as possible. “Are you in a lot of pain?”

He shook his head. “Not as much as I was yesterday.”

It felt like a blow to her gut, but she had it coming. “Eric, I’ll never forgive myself for hurting you like that. Please don’t hate me. Please forgive me.” Tears streamed down her face.

Eric took a deep breath, clearly trying to pull himself together. “I could never hate you, Sof.” This time he wiped the tears on her face. “But I can only forgive you once. As much as I love you, Sofie. I won’t forgive again—ever.”

“I would never put you through anything like this again. I swear to you.” The guilt she’d carry after all this would be enough to last her a lifetime.

“You have no idea how much I love you,” he whispered.

Sofia took a long, trembling breath and kissed his bruised cheek softly. “Trust me, I know exactly how you feel.”

CHAPTER 14

Happy Holidays

The accident forced Eric to end his internship early. A shattered right wrist rendered him useless. He used his right hand mostly on everything. There had only been a few weeks left of the summer anyway, and he’d been glad to be able to spend them at home with Sofia. His dad was already talking about getting him another internship. One he could finish.

It took a few weeks for things to feel like they’d gone back to normal. His biggest fear after the whole ordeal was that he’d have trust issues and would drive Sofia crazy, questioning her every move. But after much thought, he’d come to the conclusion that Sofia was genuinely regretful. She’d gone out of her way to show him in every way she could how much she loved him. He was satisfied he could trust her without having to be that insecure nagging boyfriend. That just wasn’t him.

By the time they’d gone back to school in the fall, everything seemed to be back to normal. Their routine, however, changed a little, and his dad was none too happy about it. They were seeing more of each other during the week than before the summer started. Last semester they’d go several days at a time, more during finals, without seeing each other. So far, this semester they’d managed to see each other almost every day. His grades weren’t suffering from it yet, but he found himself dozing off during class a lot more than he had last semester.

Most of his classes ended before the winter break. During fall break, his dad dropped another bomb on him. They were having their traditional Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant, just the two of them. “I got you another internship. The best thing about it is you can go to school at the same time. So you’d be doing the internship and getting credit.”

Eric stared at him. “What? You mean like for next summer?”

“No, this is a shorter one. During Christmas break. You’d leave after Christmas.” His dad took another spoonful of his dinner and waved the waitress down. “Can I get another glass of wine, please?”

“Same place?”

“Nope.” His dad drank down the rest of what was left of his wine. “Madrid.”

Eric stopped mid-chew. “Spain?”

His dad smiled. “Merry Christmas.”

“For how long?”

“Just four weeks. You’d be back before the end of January.”

Eric could feel his stomach turning. “Wait, whoa, dad. I got classes in the winter.”

“Yeah, in Spain. The credits are transferable. Don’t worry,” his dad winked at him, then at the waitress who refilled his glass, “I made sure I cove>

Eric wasn’t ready for this. What happened over the summer was still too raw. He didn’t need another roller coaster ride this soon.

New Year’s Eve this year was supposed to be huge. Sarah was a New Year’s baby. Angel’s birthday was just a couple of weeks before hers. This year they were both turning twenty-one, and they were planning a big party on New Year’s Eve. The worst part was, this would be the first New Year’s Eve he wouldn’t be spending with Sofia in years. “I don’t know, Dad.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know? It’s done, son. Your passport is ready, the tickets are booked and they’re non-refundable. It’s gonna be great. I thought you’d be excited.”

Eric frowned. “No, you didn’t.”

His dad smirked, taking a drink of his wine. “Look, I’ll add international texting for the month to your cell phone plan. This way you can text her all you want.”

Eric almost groaned. He hadn’t even thought about that part. Unlike with his internship in Los Angeles, they wouldn’t be able to talk much on the phone. The cell phone bill would be astronomical. They wouldn’t even be in the same time zone. Telling Sofia was going to be brutal. She already thought his dad didn’t like her. She’d insinuated his dad got him the internship in Los Angeles to get Eric away from her. He was sure that’s what she’d be thinking about this. Only this time he had to agree.

After the accident, his dad hadn’t made it a secret he thought Eric was way too emotionally involved with Sofia. He said he’d never seen him so upset than he had the day he found out about Sofia and Brandon. His father attributed his careless driving to the whole distraction. He never really asked Eric about the details of Sofia “cheating,” but ever since, any talk of her changed the mood. Partly, because his dad did nothing to hide his disapproval of them being so serious, but mostly because Eric was ready to snap if his dad made even one negative remark about her.