Page 107 of Fake it With Me

“Please call me back. Let me apologize properly. Let me fix this. I know I don’t deserve it, but please give me a chance to make this right.”

I ended the call and sat there staring at my phone, willing it to ring. It didn’t.

I tried calling again. Same result, straight to voicemail. I didn’t leave another message. I sent her a quick text asking her to call me. I wasn’t actually expecting her to answer, but again, I hoped like hell she would.

Maybe her phone was off. Maybe she was screening her calls.

But I wasn’t giving up. Not this time. Not when I finally figured out what I had lost.

I had spent the last week being miserable, convincing myself I’d done the right thing by ending it. I fell into my old way of thinking that it was better to be alone than to risk getting hurt.

But I had been hurt anyway. We all had. The pain I was feeling now was entirely my own fault. And I was going to fix it.

I didn’t know how yet. Didn’t know if Liza would forgive me or give me another chance. But I had to try.

Because a life without her wasn’t a life worth living. And I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.

Now, I just had to find her. I called Della back and tried to get information out of her, but she had nothing. Or rather she was choosing not to tell me. My bet was on the latter.

37

LIZA

Iwas on what I had morbidly started calling my widow walk. It was my daily trek along the beach where I mourned my lost love like some tragic heroine from a Victorian novel. It was dramatic and self-pitying, and I didn’t care. If I couldn’t be happy, I could at least lean into the misery.

The good thing about being alone was that I didn’t have to pretend to be happy. Nobody was asking if I was okay. My phone was off. It had been off for a couple of days and I planned on leaving it that way. I was sulking something fierce. I was sad, but I was also healing. It gave me time to figure out what the hell I was going to do.

The sun was starting to set. It was my favorite time of day. It was melancholy. And soothing. I’d been walking for about an hour, my feet bare in the wet sand, my hair whipping around in the ocean breeze.

I was thinking about my dissertation, and the chapter I’d finished this morning. I was debating whether I should try to find a position at one of the marine labs nearby or if I should just cut my losses and leave Cloudhaven entirely. I knew I needed to leave. The town was too small. I didn’t want to run into Darek, and if I stuck around, I would definitely see him. And Daisie. I didn’t think it would be fair to the little girl.

“Liza!” The voice was small and high and achingly familiar.

Great. My solitude was making me hear things.

“Liza!” That sounded way too real not to be legit.

I turned, and my heart stopped.

Daisie was running toward me, her little legs pumping for all they were worth, her hair flying behind her. And behind her, not running but walking with those long-legged strides that covered ground faster than seemed possible, was Darek.

Panic flooded through me. What was I supposed to do? Run away? Jump into the ocean? Pretend to be someone else? Act like I didn’t see them on the empty beach?

I didn’t get the chance to make a decision. Daisie was there, throwing herself at me, and instinct took over. I caught her, wrapping my arms around her small body. She was warm and real and sobbing into my shoulder.

“I missed you,” she said through her tears. “I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too, sweetheart.” My own voice was thick with emotion. “So much.”

She pulled back, and I saw she was holding something.

“What’s that?” I asked.

I could see it was a card made of construction paper, covered in glue and glitter and cut into the rough shape of a whale. It was clearly handmade.

“It’s an apology card,” Daisie said, pressing it into my hands.

“Oh, Daisie, you don’t have anything to apologize for.”