“She’s at work. But I’d like if you two came home with me. I miss you.”
“That’s fine,” Jenna agrees. “Girls, why don’t you grab your things?”
Poppy scampers off but Delilah stares up at me. “You were supposed to talk to her.”
“We did talk, honey,” I say, fighting the lump in my throat.
“You were supposed to tell her sorry.”
I look at Jenna who covers her mouth, looking down.
“Grown up fights aren’t always that simple, honey,” I tell her.
“Yes they are! All fights are the same and none of them matter if you love someone!”
I open my mouth to say something, though I don’t know what. She’s nine and she’s leveling me. Luckily, Poppy comes out, and the conversation is over.
We drive home mostly in silence, and I keep checking on her in my rear view. She’s not happy. Her little lip, a mini version of her mother’s is stuck in a pout. But not a sad one. An angry one. Another thing Tess used to do. My heart cracks a little more.
Chapter 43
Libby
“The new Amara Rose book is coming in today,” Summer says, tapping her finger to her lips.
“Sounds like a lot of boxes,” Tom mumbles.
“Are you thinking a front table or–” Summer asks but I shake my head.
“Let’s just front face it in section. Three copies and put the rest in the back,” I answer.
“Put Amara Rose in the back?” Summer asks like it’s the most absurd thing I could have said. “You do know she’s a best seller right? And we ordered signed copies.”
“Fine then,” I say a little shortly. “Throw her on an endcap. But we don’t need an entire table dedicated to a fake relationship trope!”
“I’m no Einstein in the subject,” Tom cuts in. “But I think that might be one of the most popular tropes in the rom-com genre. I second Summer than a table might be the most lucrative–”
“It’s a book based on lies,” I cut both of them off, my hands waving dramatically to drive my point. “And who bases a relationship on lies? It’s a bullshit way to start a romance.”
After the words fly out of my mouth and both of my co-workers just stand there staring at me, I realize how crazy I sound. Summer’s lips plump in a small pout. “I hate that you don’t believe in love anymore.”
“I never said I don’t believe in love,” I correct her, preoccupying myself with organizing the bookmark tree. “I’m just kind of all romanced out.”
“That’s just as sad,” Summer says.
“It’s a myth anyways,” Tom starts in and Summer groans.
“Tom, now is not the time for your evolutionist theories on how people are more like monkeys than lobsters so monogamy isn’t realistic or whatever scientific sadness you listened to on a recent podcast.”
“Science is forever,” he goes on. “Romance is fleeting.”
“No,” she snaps back. “Looks are fleeting. Love is forever.”
“Nothing is forever,” I mumble and Summer walks over to me.
“Don’t talk like that. You’re spiraling all because the man made a really dumb mistake. But that’s all it was. Dumb. It wasn’t malicious. It wasn’t meant to hurt you.”
“He lied about who he was,” I remind her.
