Page 23 of Tangling Hearts

Chapter Fourteen

Rebecca

Clothes, Toothpaste, Makeup: in suitcase. Lace Lingerie: in trash

Iwalk to the front desk and look around. The place has definitely lost its charm. There’s an average-looking guy in his early twenties, working the desk today and thank God for that. I’m so ashamed of myself for yelling at that poor girl. I slept like shit, and then couldn’t wake up at my normal 7:00 a.m. The only thing that’s got my feet moving now is the desire to get to the hospital to tell Brendan what I found out.

“Here’s the key. And can you please give this to the woman who was working last night?” I hand the guy a hundred dollar bill. “Please put this in an envelope and tell her I’m sorry.”

His eyebrows come up and together. “Will do.”

“Thank you.” Grabbing the handle again of my suitcase, I turn my heels around and adjust the strap of the purse on my shoulder. Stopping, I turn and face him again. “Oh. Who has the best coffee in the area?”

He doesn’t even have to think about it. “Philz. You need the address?”

I nod, remembering Brendan and I going there on many of my weekend visits. “No. I’ve been there before. Thank you.”

Carting a rolling suitcase down a staircase is always a humiliatingly awkward and uncomfortable experience. Doing it after you’ve been through what I have, makes it ten times worse. Each clunky step feels like a deeper descent into unhappiness. Lifting the suitcase into the back of my SUV and closing the door, I catch my reflection in the window. How did I get here? How can I make this better? Thinking back to that phone call from the hospital telling me Brendan had been shot, if I’d have known what I would be going through, I would not have come.

But here I fucking am.

So I climb in the car and head to the hospital by way of one short stop for a much needed latte. Maybe that will make me feel better.

---