Before I knew what I was doing, I was running out of the bar, Chelsea following close behind.
“Wait,” she called out, scrambling to keep up with me. “Wait, Rory!”
I didn’t stop until I was inside the car.
She glowered at me when she finally caught up. “What on earth, Ro? What was that about?”
I breathed rapidly.
Three-two-five-nine.
Three-two-five-nine.
As always, repeating the numbers, slow and sure, returned a semblance of sanity.
Why had I run?
I didn’t know, except I wasn’t ready to feel how that man made me feel.
It got me thinking there was hope for me. That I wasn’t doomed to die alone in a room surrounded by empty ice cream tubs, the TV set to my hundredth repeat watch ofBridget Jones.
I couldn’t risk ruining that fantasy for something much more unlikely to happen.
Life had taught me that love didn’t work. It never had. It just sounded pretty in books.
The last thing I needed was to feel thisgoodaround a nameless stranger.
I sighed. “I don’t know, Chels. I’m sorry. I just want to go home.”
She considered me in silence for a minute.
“Let’s go, Ro. You know I’m here for you.”
I knew she was.
Chelsea was the only piece of safety, of familiarity I had left in my life.
With a new life just hours away from beginning, it felt okay to want to cherish that a little while longer.
As I drove back home, I couldn’t help fixating on the stranger and his smile.
Years ago, I’d etched the tattoo of a fern on my collar bone, because even with everything going on in my life at the time, I had a perpetual nostalgia for new beginnings.
Something told me I’d just landed on the brink of one.
2
Elijah
Imet this girl last night,Benji’s message read.She was beautiful... before she ran off and left me cold. Man, dating in this city sucks.
It was just a minute past seven. I sighed and set my phone aside, turning my attention to the chirping of yellow-billed cuckoos outside.
The morning sun streamed through the windows, casting a warm glow over the room.
I took a deep breath and sat up in bed, my eyes immediately drawn to the large windows that dominated the far wall.
Beyond the glass lay a world of green, with trees swaying in the gentle breeze and birds flitting among the branches.