“Okay. We can fix this. Call her again.”
Hope bloomed in my chest. I grabbed my phone and brought up my recent calls list. Lydia’s name was right at the top, just below Luke’s call from this morning. I hit Send and waited. It rang twice before being sent to voicemail.
“I’m going to go by Reid’s. She’ll have to talk to me if I show up in person.”
Luke agreed that it was the best move. He slapped me on the shoulder before he left, telling me to call him after I had a chance to talk to her. I showered quickly and threw on whatever was on my floor.
The drive to Reid and Claire’s house was hot and sticky,the July weather increasing the humidity in our already salty ocean air. I pulled into their driveway, parking behind Claire’s car, and got out. The door opened before I made it up the steps, Claire’s tall, willowy frame blocking the doorway.
“Morning, Claire. Is Lydia here?” I asked, even though I knew she was. Her car was parked right next to Claire’s in the driveway.
“She is.”
“Can I come in?” I asked slowly. “I’d like to talk to her.”
“No, Sebastian. You cannot.” She crinkled her nose like she didn’t like this. Leaning into me, she whispered, “She doesn’t want to talk to you. She keeps saying that she should have known better.” She shrugged. “Give her some time, okay?”
“It’s been two days, Claire. Come on. Can you just let me in? If I could talk to her, we could work this out.”
“No can do. Sorry.”
“Fuck. Fine. Just tell her I was here, please. Tell her to answer my calls or texts, anything. Please.” My voice sounded as desperate as I felt.
“I will. I promise.”
“Thanks, Claire.” I got back in my car and headed over to the shop. I was a little earlier than I needed to be, but I couldn’t go home. Not to stare at the empty spot on the couch where Lydia should be or her favorite coffee mug sitting in the cabinet waiting for her.
I needed to fix this, but I didn’t know how. If I came on too strong, demanding she talk to me and not respecting her wishes, I would be exactly the person she was claiming I was. But doing nothing but waiting for her to realize that wasn’t the case was eating me alive. What if she thought I wasn’t willing to fight for her? For us? Wouldn’t that be worse or atleast just as bad?
I spent the majority of my day in a haze. I knew I talked and engaged with my clients. I knew I smiled and laughed, making sure they were comfortable in my chair. But in reality, it felt like a charade as I just tried to get through the day.
“Is everything alright?” Mallory asked after the last scheduled client of the day left. Closing time wasn’t for another hour, but I had booked a four-hour session to end the day, and the client had to tap out after three. That was fine with me. I was happy to close up a little early anyway.
“Yeah. Sorry if I’ve been a grouch today,” I said.
“Oh, you haven’t been grouchy. You just seem, I don’t know… sad, I guess.”
Great.
“You can take off early, Mallory. I’m going to close up and then head out myself.”
Luke offered to go out with me tonight after work to grab a drink. I told him that I was fine, that he should stay home with his lady and newborn son, but he insisted. Secretly, I was pretty glad for it.
I texted him that I was heading to Harpoon’s, and he met me there a few minutes later.
The place was crowded and rowdy. Tourists had infiltrated the town in the past few weeks, and it looked like many of them had found their way to Harpoon’s. Luckily, I spotted two chairs at the bar, and we snagged them before anyone else could.
Ronnie nodded at our arrival on her way past. In the mayhem, she somehow managed to pour us each our regulars, a Jameson neat for Luke and a tall draft IPA for me.
“Thanks, beautiful,” I said. It didn’t mean anything to eitherof us when I talked like that. I had been calling Ronnie “beautiful” since I started coming here. She usually dropped one impressive eyebrow in mock skepticism. It was kind of our thing.
Tonight, she stopped what she was doing, turning back to me. “What’s wrong?”
“He and Lydia broke up,” Luke supplied.
My entire body immediately revolted at that idea. “We’re having a fight,” I countered.
“She won’t talk to you,” Luke added.
