“What do you get out of it?”
“You,” he says so clearly.
I swallow. “Tell me this, Adam. Do I look like a fucking moron to you?”
“Why are you acting this way? Do you have any idea what I did to make your dreams come true? Do you know what I’ve sacrificed?” he asks, trying to spin it.
“How much are they paying you for recruiting me? Thirty thousand dollars? Forty thousand?”
“You’re overreacting.”
“You keep saying that.” I walk toward the stairs. “You said it when I begged you to be with me long distance. You said that when I told you I wanted to think about our future together. You even said it the night I left to come home. Maybe you’reunderreacting.” I let out a breath. “The answer is no.”
“The money?—”
“Will never ever make me happy,” I say, taking the stairs.
The door to his room is unlocked, and his clothes are hanging in the closet in a neat row. I yank the shirts off the hangers, and the metal clatters against the rod. Then I toss them off the small balcony. His toiletries line the bathroom counter, and I sweep them into my hands and throw them out too. The cologne gets tossed, along with his shoes.
I grab the empty suitcase and throw it out too. All of it goes over the railing, landing in the sand with a thud.
Adam stands in the doorway. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“You’re leaving.”
“You’ve lost it.”
“No, I’ve found myself again. I’m awake, and I’m finally able to see you for who you are. I’m disgusted by you.” My hands tremble from the adrenaline. “I don’t even want to see you again. Ever. Lose my number. Forget I exist. Go away.”
“You’re making a mistake.”
“The only mistake I made was giving you the best years of my life. I let you frame every conversation so I’d walk out, thinking you were right. You controlled my feelings and my decisions and my career, and Ithankedyou for it. You tried to break me, and I won’t give you that opportunity again.” I take a step toward him. “Get the fuck out of my grandmother’s house.”
He’s calculating how much of a scene to make. Whatever he sees written on my face stops him from making his next move. If he doesn’t leave within five minutes, I will throw him off the balcony next.
He turns and walks away, and I follow him down the stairs.
Gran stands in the lobby, watching the whole thing.
“Adam is checking out early,” I say to her with my nostrils flaring.
Adam moves to the door and turns to me, begging me with his eyes. He steps out onto the porch, and I slam the door, the seashellWelcomesign slapping against it. I turn around, and my grandma just stares at me.
“Do you think throwing his shit off the balcony was necessary?”
My face cracks into a smile, and I laugh. “Yeah. I do.”
“Honey, you destroyed him.”
“He deserved it.”
I hear the engine of his rental car starting. Soon, he backs out of the driveway, and the noise fades until it’s just the ocean through the windows again.
Gran comes around the desk and squeezes my shoulder.
“I’m proud of you,” she says and kisses my forehead before leaving me alone.
The roses sit on the counter where I left them. I pick them up and drop them in the trash before stepping out onto the deck.
