She glanced to her alarm. The clock read a little after midnight.
Her mouth open, she couldn’t get her lips to move. All the unsaid words between them jammed against her tongue. She’d rehearsed this so many times, and now she couldn’t remember what to say.
“Are you okay?” That was a good start.
He didn’t answer. That was all right, though. Talking to herself had become second nature.
“I’ve been so worried. I just wanted to—” she started.
“You’ve got to stop calling.” He had never sounded so tired.
She dropped back on the bed, her legs still tangled in the sheets, her breathing stalled. What had she expected him to say? Of course he wanted her to leave him alone.
“I checked in with Ma tonight,” he continued. “I’ll call Aspen tomorrow when she’s awake. I won’t call you again. It’s time for both of us to move on.”
No. That’s not what you did when you loved someone; youheld tight. Especially when they loved you, too.
“Where are you?” Velma clenched the top sheet toward her chest and curled into herself. “Just tell me where you are, and I’ll come there and we’ll sort this out. I know I messed up. It doesn’t cha—”
“We’ve talked about this shit enough for a lifetime. Time to stop talking and move along.”
“I don’t accept that,” she said, ignoring the fear curdling inside her.
His breaths were muffled against the speaker, like he was holding the phone too close to his lips. “You deserve better than a four.”
A pinching sting settled in the center of her chest. Not a quick poke, either. This was the kind that stuck around to remind a person pain still exists, even in the midst of numbness.
“And I deserve to be with someone who doesn’t think I’m a four,” he continued.
Oh. Oh God. Her mind went blank, and her mouth wouldn’t work to form words.
Not when he was right but also so wrong. Two plus two didn’t really equal…well…fourin this instance.
“Time to move on, Velma. It was fun. Go find your ten.” He dealt the final blow, and the line went dead, mirroring her heartbeat for the briefest of seconds. His firm words pulsed like a living thing around her.
She stared at the blank screen on her cell, her blood pressure rising.
Oh. Heck. No.
“It was fun?” she said into the darkness, absolutely stunned.
Why would he say that? After everything they’d been through and all the promises?
He was trying to hurt her. That had to be it, so she would let him go and move on and find—who? Someone dull? Like freaking Wayne?
Brek had never been an idiot, but who had their eyes closed this time?
She kicked her feet over the side of the bed and traced her foot along the carpet until she found her slippers. Sliding them on, she clicked on the lamp and shuffled to the kitchen.
Strategy. She needed a solid plan to convince Brek to come back. Sure, she’d totally mucked everything up, but it couldn’t be too late. She refused to even consider that as a possibility.
Frantic, she rifled through the drawers for paper. She needed to write out a new plan. She rummaged for her notepad, and Sophie’s pink thank-you note with the gold embossing slipped through her fingertips. Velma lifted it from the drawer and skimmed the lines of cursive handwriting Sophie had sent after the middle-of-the-street wedding.
I gave up on love. Thank you for showing me I was wrong.
Velma paused and closed her eyes. She dropped the note, and it fluttered to the counter. Deep breaths. Everything would be fine, because she and Brek were meant to be together.
This time, she wouldn’t write out a plan to get Brek back. No, she would follow her heart…and show him the way home.
