I would have glared at my sister, but the longer Momma held me, the more I knew I needed this.
“What about Brody?” I asked.
“Oh, he’s still at work.” My sister hurried over to me and patted my arm gently. “We all feel so terrible about everything that happened. Liam is such a douchebag, and you let us know if you need us to kick his ass. I totally will.”
She shot me an exaggerated wink before flying out the door for her date.
“Your sister is nothing if not subtle,” Momma chuckled.
“She’s doing it on purpose, you know.”
“Oh, I’m well aware of her tricks by now. Anyway, how are you holding up? You must be devastated.”
“I’m fine, Momma.”
I really did want to be strong, but the woman who flitted around the house, excited for my impending marriage, was nowhere to be found. Instead, the sympathetic woman who only showed her face when we really needed it was all that appeared.
“Now, you can pull the wool over your brother’s eyes, but I’m a woman, and I know a thing or two about heartbreak,” she said, leading me over to the couch.
“I’m really fine,” I said, trying again, but I could tell I failed miserably at convincing her that I was.
“Darling, if there’s one thing I know, it’s that love cannot just be pushed down until you feel nothing at all. Oh, I know I was so excitedfor the wedding, and I probably took it too far, but I was so sure about Liam.”
“So was I,” I admitted. “I really thought…” Shaking my head, I didn’t even know where to start. “It all changed overnight, and I can’t figure out what I did wrong.”
I wouldn’t dare tell Mama that Liam said anything about her planning the wedding. One of two things would happen. She would either feel horrible for her supposed role in my breakup, or she would march over to his house and call him a coward for backing out just because an old woman got excited.
Neither of those was appealing.
“Honey, you did nothing wrong. If anything, you have too big a heart.”
“I’m not sure about that.”
“You always have,” she beamed. “It’s your best trait. You’re always so willing to see the best in others that you can’t see the flaws.”
“So…you think there’s something wrong with Liam?” I asked in confusion.
“I think that the truth will come out eventually. You’ll just have to decide if you’re ready to hear it.”
Yeah, that was never going to happen. “He slept with Ellie May, Momma. There’s no coming back from that.”
“Well, men will do stupid things all the time?—”
“No,” I said fiercely. “When I saw her in his shirt…”
The hurt and anger came swirling to the surface so fast that I felt I might punch someone. Tears pricked my eyes as I remembered the way he stared at me as if he didn’t care at all that I was devastated.
“He slept with her, and he didn’t even care that it hurt me,” I whispered. “How does someone do that to another person? How could he claim to care about me and then turn around and…”
The tears I’d been desperately holding back for days finally spilled down my cheeks. I could no longer fight the feelings rushing to the surface or pretend that I wasn’t devastated.
“When I was with him, I thought for sure that he felt the same as me, you know?”
She squeezed my hand, which only made it harder to keep it together.
“It was only a week,” I laughed, wiping away the tears. “But that week…God, it was amazing.”
“I know,” she smiled, and something about that look told me she really did understand.
