My dress is falling off.
“That’s not how you do it, Jellybean.” Theo stops wiping my face. There’s another tug on my skirt, and then I have two kittens in my hands and my dress is no longer falling off. “Pet the kitties, Laney. They need you.”
“They need me.”
“Yep. They need you.”
He brushes the washcloth over my face one last time, and I close my eyes and lean into the cool sensation. My sobs are finally subsiding.
Yep.
Gonna be mortified tomorrow.
But not right now.
Right now, I just feel heavy. Rooted to this chair, but also light on top.
Clear.
Free.
Clean.
Happy.
It’s the alcohol. I shouldn’t drink. I shouldn’t drinkever.
But maybe it’s not all the alcohol.
Maybe it’s Theo too.
The kittens. His smile. His gentle touch.
Why can’t I be happy?
Why can’t I just choose to be happy?
“Can’t sleep in here,” he says quietly. “They’ll keep you up all night, and you’ll have to explain a bunch of scratches to Emma.”
“I’m not sleeping.”
“Laney.”
“Shh. This is just a dream. A very, very bad dream.”
“What makes it a bad dream?”
“Emma’s marrying Chandler and they think you’re the bad guy.”
“What’s wrong with Emma marrying Chandler?”
“She deserves somebody who asked her five years ago.”
“Who asked her five years ago?”
“Nobody. But he should’ve. And he didn’t. He doesn’t have balls.”
“You have photographic evidence of that?”
