Page 54 of Pretty Broken Things

He pauses, and I know for sure he’s keeping something from me. “Shane, tell me everything or I’m not coming,” I insist.

He sighs. “If I tell you then you really might not come.”

My heart leaps into my throat, and I feel dizzy. “I can’t, Tracy. I can’t go back to that place.”

“C’mon, you grew up here. Your friends are here. Just come home,” he begs.

Tracy reaches out and grabs my hand. “I’ll get Lydia here. Fuck Ford. We don’t ever have to go back.”

“Really, Trace? Just like that you’re turning your back on him?” Shane prods.

“Where has he been the last year? I know he’s been going through some shit, but he has never asked nor bothered to try and help me through mine. You can both go fuck yourselves. Either tell us the truth or get lost. Tess has been here for me, unlike you guys. If she doesn’t want to come back, we stay here. She’s finally starting to live again, and you’ve already broken your word, so as they say, shit or get off the pot,” she says.

“Fine, fuck,” he shouts away from the phone. “Ford is seeing someone. It’s getting serious, but they’re all wrong for each other. They have fuck all in common, and she’s going to end up getting hurt because he’s not over you, Tessa.”

“You like her,” I observe.

“Yeah, possibly more than like her. I really have been trying to get him to go find you, but he won’t hear a word of it. I will do everything I can to get him to listen to you, but I need you to come here so I can do it. Will you help me?” he finally unloads.

Tracy watches me with wide eyes. Her hand covers the speaker of the phone. “We can come back whenever you want. I have no problem throwing our shit in the car and heading right back up the Pacific Coast Highway.”

“Pretty sure the interstate would be faster,” I grumble.

Tracy winks at me. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“Broken,” I say.

She bumps her shoulder into mine. “We’re all a little broken. If nothing else let’s go get Lydia.”

That changes things for me. I point to her hand, and she pulls it off the speaker. “We’re coming, but you’ve got one chance, Shane. I want to make it clear, I’m not coming for him. Tracy and I want Lydia to move in with us up here. I know he’s hurt, but so am I, and I’m not going to let you use me either. I’m done being manipulated by men. Oh, and call me Countess or Contessa one more time and I’m fucking gone forever. You can lose the girl you’re falling for to him. I don’t care.”

“You’ve grown colder, and I’m not sure how that was even possible,” he says.

“Can you hear it cracking, Shane?”

“What are you taking about?”

“The ice you’re standing on. It’s thin. Keep making comments like that and you might just fall right on through. Tracy and I will pack up my car and head out later today.”

He starts to talk, but she hitsEndcutting him off. “Was he always this big of an asshole, or do you bring out the best in him?”

I shrug. “Maybe a bit of both.”

“Well, let’s let momma know what we’re up to and hit the road.”

I nod, already sad I’d be leaving my mom here in Seattle.

* * *

“We really should have stoppedat a hotel halfway,” I groan as I stretch.

It’s taken us a little over eighteen hours to drive from Seattle down to Playa. That is because we only stopped to eat and use a bathroom when we needed gas. Tracy and I took turns driving while the other napped in the passenger seat.

“Then we wouldn’t be here already.”

I look around not recognizing where she’s parked. “Where is here, exactly?”

“I know it’s not Ocean Bluff, but surely you recognize Playa Pacifica? You haven’t been gone that long,” she jokes.

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