Page 13 of Love is a Roller Coaster

“Okay.” I lock my phone and slip it back into my pocket. I’ll respond to Leila later. Maybe Brittany and her boyfriend, Brandon, will take the tickets instead.

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” Brooke says quickly. “I’ve always wanted to go.”

“I remember.” Now it’s my turn to keep my eyes on the ocean. I’m disappointed, but I also don’t want to make her feel bad. This has to be a difficult time for her, and I don’t need to complicate things.

“But…I shouldn’t.”

“Okay.” I scoot a bit away from her on the bench. I’m not being petty, I swear. But I feel like she needs a little bit of breathing room. She shoots a glance at me, but I don’t make a big deal of it.

She stands abruptly and brushes off her dress. “I think I should get to bed. Jet lag and all that. Thanks for the gelato.”

“Of course.” I stand and toss my trash in the nearby bin. “I’ll walk you back.”

We take our first few steps in silence, her heels clicking on the sidewalk of Main Street. “You don’tliveat the inn, do you?”

“No,” I laugh. “I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I lived there. You need a separation of work and home. But I don’t live far from here.” I point a few streets over. “I have an apartment over there with a guy named Nate. He’s a little quirky, but we get along great.”

She nods but says nothing else. When we get to the front door of the inn, we stand awkwardly. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do here. Hug her? Shake her hand? Definitely not a kiss, not even on the cheek.

“Thank you for a fun night,” she says, breaking the silence. “I haven’t laughed that much in a while.”

I lift the side of my mouth with a grin. “I’m glad. I had a great time with you, too.”

She nods and lifts her hand in a wave. “Good night. I’ll probably see you around?”

“Yep. I’ll be here.”

And she opens the door, heading inside and disappearing from view.

I turn and walk to my apartment, my hands in my pockets, wishing I hadn’t pushed her so hard. We were having so much fun. I should’ve just kept things light and easy.

I vow to myself that I’ll give her space. She deserves that. I can’t avoid running into her again tomorrow, but I won’t pressure her to spend time with me or talk to me if she doesn’t want to.

chapter seven

BROOKE

I’m in trouble.

I unlock the door to my room, walk straight to my bed, and flop face first onto the comforter. Thankfully, my lipstick wore off from the gelato, otherwise it would smear all over the white comforter.

Tyler is everything I remember and more. All these years, I’ve thought about our time together and figured it was just the rose-colored glasses of youth. After going back to Colorado, dating Landon, and getting engaged, I concluded that was what an actual relationship looked like. It looked a lot like my parents’ relationship. Well, with a side of cheating. My dad, although he seems uninterested in my mom half the time, would never be so dishonorable as to cheat on her.

It’s not that Tyler and I agreed on everything, and even now we don’t. But we justclick. There’s so much lightness about him, and when we’re together, I feel like I’m floating. Being around him now reminds me that this is what it was like when we were younger.

Maybe it wasn’t rose-colored glasses after all.

But there’s no way I’m going to do something ridiculous, like go to Disneyland with him.

My phone buzzes in my clutch on the bed. I feel around with my hand, refusing to sit up from my position on the bed, until I find my phone and pull it out, instinctively pushing the “answer” button.

“Hello?” I say, my face still smushed into the mattress.

“Brooke?” Ava’s voice says in my ear. “Are you okay?”

“Mm-hmm.” I finally sit up. “Just got home from the art walk.”

“Oh! Great! How was it?”

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