Page 120 of Something Forever

“No problem, Ms. Rhodes. You take care.”

I hang up the phone, my mind reeling. Then, because of course it does, it starts raining. Big, fat raindrops that drip down my forehead as I glance up at the sky with an exasperated smirk. Covering my head, I pick up my pace, jogging back to my apartment. When I get there, I see a familiar figure sitting on the stoop with his head in his hands, the rain pouring over his messy, golden hair.

My heart drops.

Liam.

What is he doing here?

The image of his ring sitting on the kitchen counter flashes through my mind like a taunt. Without thinking, I turn on my heels and run. I don’t know if he’s seen me, but I can’t take the chance. My feet carry me down the street, my body moving on autopilot. I run, and run, and run until I’m out of breath. By the time I stop, I’m blocks away from home and soaked through my clothes. I slip my phone out of my pocket and dial Abbi, but it goes to voicemail. She immediately sends me a text.

Abbi: Can’t talk. Everything okay?

I reply telling her that everything is fine, even though my heart is racing. Sweat drips from my brow down my forehead. Checking my texts and calls again, I notice that Liam hasn’t tried to reach out to me at all, which makes no sense. Why was he waiting for me outside my place?

Feeling overwhelmed, I spot a dive bar across the street and make my way inside. The place is mostly empty since it’s the late afternoon, but I grab a seat at the bar and order a tequila soda. Exhaustion hits me all at once, an overwhelming feeling of loss spreading through me. I can’t keep running forever. If Liam wants to talk, I should just get it out of the way so that I can move on. But the thought of what he might say… I don’t know if I can handle hearing that it’s over straight from his lips. Lips that once pressed against mine in a way that felt like forever. As much as it hurt to see his signature on that page, it might hurt more to see the look on his face as we say goodbye for the last time.

Chugging the remainder of my drink, I signal the bartender for another one. I guess this is my plan for the rest of the day: drink and wallow. I have a meeting with Sharon tomorrow to go over finances, and I’m scheduled to do a final check with the construction crew later in the evening. All I can do is throw myself into work and ignore that the rest of my life is falling apart. If I can focus on the salon opening, I don’t have to think about the fact that I’m going to have a divorce under my belt before thirty. I can ignore everything falling apart in my life and just spend every waking moment on All Rhodes.

Just as long as I don’t find Liam on my stoop again.

44

LIAM

“If this is your version of love, I don’t want it.”

I press play on the voicemail again. By now, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve listened to it. The first time I was so consumed with fear and regret, all I could focus on was that she was alive. She was okay. Physically, she was going to be fine. Eventually, sometime after the third or fourth listen, her actual words seemed to register.

“I thought you saw me. I thought this was real.”

It only took me five minutes to pack all my stuff and run out of my dad’s apartment. Getting back to the city took a bit longer, but I was rushing through Penn Station like my life depended on it. The train ride from Philadelphia was only about an hour, but I must have listened to Whitney’s message at least twenty times.

There’s just one sentence that I can’t seem to get out of my head.

“I was going to say it back.”

She was going to say it back.

My heart leaps in my chest, a confusing mixture of hope and guilt swirling through me. The thought of hearing those words from Whitney’s mouth after thinking that she wanted me out of her life fills me with a hopeful warmth. I’m scared to let myself latch onto that feeling, so instead, as I sit on our stoop and rub my hands together, I focus on the guilt.

I press play on the voicemail again, my head in my hands.

“I never want to see you again.”

The sound of her heartbroken voice sends a wave of nausea through me. Closing my eyes, I can almost picture her angry, tearstained face. My strong, beautiful girl was crying because of me. Because I failed her. Because I let my insecurities take over and imagined the worst. Because I believed Caroline.

What kind of mother does this to her own daughter? How the hell did she get Whitney’s ring? Anger pulses through my chest. If I ever see Whitney’s mother again…

I’m an idiot. I should have trusted Whitney. I should have given her a chance to explain. Instead, I ran from my problems like I always do. Here I thought I’d finally made some strides in figuring my life out, but yet again I fucked things up. When she needed me be to be there for her, I left her.

I glance down the sidewalk, searching for Whitney. I’ve been sitting here for hours, and she still hasn’t come home. It’s getting late, and I need to figure out where I’m going to sleep tonight. Feeling desperate, I scroll through my texts to find Abbi’s number. I’m sure she’s about to tear into me, but I’m feeling pretty masochistic right now. It rings for so long I’m sure it’s going to go to voicemail, but then she picks up.

“What the hell do you want?” Abbi barks out.

“I just want to talk to her. Can you please tell her to come home?”

“Oh, now you want to talk to her? Last I heard, you were ditching her without a word.”

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