The finality in her voice worried me. It seemed there was no coming back from this.
"All right," I said, because what else could I say? I didn't want to keep pushing. "We don't have to talk about what happened right now."
I kicked off my shoes and lay down, wrapping my arms around her. She squeezed me tight, burying her face against my shoulder and sobbing like her heart was breaking. Which clearly it was.
I smoothed my hand over her short curls and murmured words of comfort.
"It's going to be okay," I whispered, though I had no idea if that was true. "We'll get through this."
Blossom continued crying, and I wished I could take away the pain like I used to when she was little and had a scraped knee or had bumped her elbow. No band-aid or kiss could chase away this pain.
All I could do was hold her and let her know she wasn't alone. So that's what I did until her tears stopped, her sobbing quieted, and she finally fell asleep. My poor baby.
I kissed her forehead and then carefully extracted myself from her arms. I placed a blanket over her and stood there for a moment, looking at her tear-streaked face.
Tears blurred my eyes. My baby was hurting, and I didn't know how to take away the pain.
I left her bedroom and closed the door softly behind me. In my own room, I checked my phone and saw multiple missed calls from Jamison. He had also sent three texts.
Jamison: Is she okay?
Jamison: Please call when you can.
Jamison: I'm worried.
I sank onto the side of the bed and called him, and he answered on the first ring.
"What happened?" he asked without greeting, his voice tight with concern.
"The wedding's off," I said, my voice breaking on the words. "She won't tell me why, but she's devastated, Jamison. I've never seen my daughter like this."
He didn't respond right away. Then he sighed. "Manuel isn't answering my calls."
Suddenly exhausted, I lay back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling fan. "She said she can't marry him and that you and I were right about them rushing. I have no idea what could possibly have happened to make her change her mind and suddenly listen to us. What if the problem—whatever it is—can't be fixed? Surely it can be fixed—right?"
"I wish I knew." He sounded as tired as I was. "We need to figure out what happened before we can help them. If Manuel screwed up..." He trailed off, muttering a curse under his breath.
"Look, it's late. We can touch base tomorrow. I want to spend as much time as possible with Blossom and find out what happened, so I probably won't see you tomorrow." Jamison and I usually saw each other on the weekend, but I couldn't leave Blossom alone in her state. "I'll call you when I can. Hopefully, you'll have a chance to talk to Manuel, and we can put our heads together about how to proceed."
"I'm going by his apartment tomorrow morning," Jamison said in a determined voice. "To make him tell me what happened. Call if you need me. Anytime."
"I will. I promise. We'll figure this out."
We hung up, and I remained on my back, staring up at the ceiling, my mind spinning with worry and questions.
The wedding was off, and I was devastated. I had gone through a complete mental shift since the night Blossom toldme she was engaged. Manuel made my daughter happy, and because of my own deep feelings for Jamison, I understood how the two of them could have fallen in love and wanted to make a life together.
But there were no rules with love, and sometimes it wasn’t destroyed by betrayal or outside forces. Sometimes it simply buckled under the weight of fear and doubt.
Chapter 29
Jamison
When Tallulah knocked on the door, I wasn't in the best mood. I had spoken to my son this morning and was even more distraught about the situation with him and Blossom now that I had more information.
When I opened the door, the raw energy I usually saw from Tallulah had dimmed. She wore jeans and a beautiful long-sleeved blouse, with her hair wrapped up in a colorful scarf. But she didn't look like herself. She appeared drawn and dispirited.
I pulled her into my arms, and she melted against me, her hands fisting the back of my shirt. We held onto each other for a while until I finally stepped back.
