I don’t answer right away. The truth is messy.
“I’m mad at the situation,” I say finally. “At the timing. At the fact that I didn’t say what I should’ve said.”
“And what was that?”
That I wanted her to stay. That I wanted her more than this bar and this beach and this safe little world I’ve built around everyone else.
I shrug instead. “Doesn’t matter.”
Jonah leans his elbows on the railing. “The whole town’s tired of those vultures. We’ll keep them busy.”
“I don’t need protecting.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
I glance back at the empty street. “They’re here because of her.”
“They’re here because she matters to you,” he says quietly.
I let out a humorless laugh. “That’s not why.”
Jonah doesn’t argue. He just looks at me like he knows better as he pats my shoulder and saunters off.
When he’s gone, I pick up the crowbar again and get to work. I tell myself I’m just fixing what the storm tore apart.
But really, I’m just trying to stay busy enough that I don’t check my phone every five minutes.
Trying not to wonder if she’s sitting in some glass tower right now, choosing her future.
Trying not to admit that I’m still standing here, waiting to see if I’m part of it.
Her pillow on my bed still smells like her shampoo. Coconut and something flowery. It’s torture because when I smell it, I remember her tangled in the sheets and her laugh muffled against my chest.
My throat tightens, and I mutter, “Get it together.”
I hear my phone buzz and pull it out to see Wilby’s name on the screen. I stare at it for a second before answering. What if something’s wrong with Silvie?
“Yeah.”
“You sound awful,” he says. “Are you still being dramatic?”
“What do you want, Wilby?” I say dryly.
He sighs. I can hear city noise in the background. Traffic, sirens, the typical hum of the city that never stops moving.
“Listen, I’m just going to give it to you straight,” he says.
That makes me pause.
“She’s not doing good,” he says. “She’s not eating or sleeping. She looks awful.”
My fingers tighten around the phone. “Why? She’s where she wants to be. She got her company. This is what she wanted, Wilby.”
“She’s not happy,” he says.
“She tell you to call me?”
“No, and she’d probably be pissed if she knew I did. She misses you like hell, and it’s making her physically sick. I’ve never seen her like this.”
