"Please call me back, I'm getting really worried about you. This isn't fair."
"You're breaking my heart!"
That last one is a little desperate, but I'm running out of options.
I pace back and forth in my hotel room, growing more and more agitated as Paul ignores my calls. It's been complete silence from him for two weeks, and it's not like I can go around asking anyone if they know where he is.
Nothing is going my way, and the lack of control is making me crazy.
I'm in PR. I control the narrative and can spin anything my way with ease. Apparently, I can't do that with the people of Starling Cove. These people are annoyingly principled. I haven't grown used to it. When I started at City Hall, they liked my ideas and my big-city mind. I led successful projects and basked in their praise. I took their kind words and made a feast from them.
With the way they're treating me now, I might as well stitch a scarletAon all of my clothes. It was just an affair! It's not like I committed murder. It's not like I personally committed treason.
Hypocritical morons.
Sophie has cancer. Who fucking cares? People get cancer and die every day. What makes her so special that it caused this shunning of me? I'm sure she's going around crying and telling people I ruined her life. Whatever.
If she wanted Paul, she should have fought harder to keep him. I wouldn't let something like cancer stand in the way of what I want.
Sophie wouldn't last five minutes in my shoes, with what I've gone through.
Because she's weak.
And so are the people in this town.
The people stare at me like I'm a sideshow freak. His friends judged me before even getting to know me. I still want to get that bitch Maude back for that night.
But first, I need control.
I was determined to show him he didn't need them. He needed only me. Fuck their opinions. I could spin this into a Romeo and Juliet story, with forbidden love at its juiciest. I could spin this to my favor. I know I could.
These people in this town are weak and small-minded.
I feel myself slipping back to where I was before I walked into this god-awful town, and I'd rather die than go back to that.
Broke. Jobless. Homeless. Alone.
Come on, Elise. What's the plan? What are we doing?
I feel a tug at the back of my neck, the clasp of the necklace I made Paul buy me caught in my hair.
Frustrated, I yank and snap the golden chain. I look down at the heart-shaped jewelry, grimace, then toss it, not even caring where it lands in the room. Piece of shit gold, anyway. I didn't really want it. I just wanted to test Paul, to see what I could make him buy. This was small and easy, and he bought it for mewithout a second thought. After passing the test, I gave him a little reward.
That's how this relationship was supposed to go.
...
When I finally track down Paul, it's completely coincidental.
I've been going out of my mind, endlessly walking around this goddamn town from sunup to sundown, trying to catch sight of a blonde head of hair, and I finally see him at the grocery store.
I've been pinching pennies the last few weeks to pay for the modestly nice hotel I've been staying at, not one of those no-tell motels. I would rather die. I became desperate enough to open up yet another credit card to pay for food and my accommodations. They only approved me for a very small limit, so I walked into the grocery store looking for cheap and easy meals I could put together in a hotel.
I wince when I catch my reflection in the glass doors.
The woman looking back at me looks cheap, sloppy, and run-down.
Fuck, I'm starting to look like my mother.
