Page 120 of Frozen Flames

We watch whatever stupid YouTube videos Hen chooses. His phone rings nonstop all night, but he ignores it.

“Aren’t you going to answer Sophie’s texts? Or Ashley’s or…” He simply chuckles at my comment, and I shake my head. “That whole song and dance is going to get old, Hen.”

He shrugs. “We’ll see. We’re not all destined for the same life,” he tells me, and if that isn’t one of the most true things I’ve ever heard.

Becauseclearly not.

I don’t answer him. I don’t want to repeat last Saturday night’s events and argue with my brother. I can’t handle it. He’s the only thing keeping me afloat.

Randomly he tells me, “I have something to tell you, and you’re not gonna like it…”

“What is it?” I ask, curious.

“But I think you should know, for your own…sake.” I wait for him to continue, although impatiently, my fingers tapping on my leg. “Gemma’s moving in with her boss—with her boyfriend.”

“Seriously?” is all I say before a snicker escapes me.

I have so many choice words for her in this moment, but I shove them as deep into my hate box as I can, knowing that Henrik would probably defend her.

Then I laugh.

“I thought you should know. I don’t know exactly what went down last Saturday, but Gemma told me that she felt bad about how she treated Claire.”

“You hung out with her?”

He nods. “This week, yeah. Gia told me the news.”

I bite my lip, shaking my head. “I fucking hate her.” I can’t stop the words from spilling out. “Not only did she ruin our relationship, but she may have ruined mine with Claire too.”

I look at him sideways and see him swallow before grabbing a bag of gummy worms and popping a few into his mouth.

“Gem betrayed you, I get it. And she’s pulled a lot of dick moves.”

To say the fucking least.

“Just remember, if it bothers you that I hang out with her, let me know,” he reminds me.

“No, it’s fine.” For now, it’s fine at least. How else would I have known that she was moving on with her boss and moving in with him so soon after our breakup? Not that it’s any of my business or that I need to know these things, but it certainly helps.

My fingers are itching to text Claire, but I don’t. Instead, I hang on to the hope that she’ll show up to work on Monday with her beautiful face and that we’ll have moved past our big fight.

Because I miss her.

Claire

I made up my mind. I’m quitting.

Unless I stop seeing Harvey, I won’t be able to let him go and accept that I must wait for him to choose me.

It’s getting harder by the day.

A part of me knows I’ll probably regret it once I think it through rationally, but in this moment, it seems to be the only choice there is to make.

I head over to Harvey’s in black leggings and a matching hoodie, stepping out of my car with my letter of resignation tucked inside my purse.

Not even the warm spring weather can lift my mood.

I’m done shedding tears though, so I’m assuming that’s a good thing, that I’m on to the next stage of heartbreak, which is making sure it doesn’t happen again.

---