Page 27 of Follow Your Bliss

No, no more. As long as she was going to be there, I wasn’t. But wait…we had to build that wheelchair ramp for Mrs. Gerstner. I folded the paper, stuck it back in my pocket, and got out of the car. I’d get Antoine to text me her address so I could build it on my own.

I walked in from the lot. Mom was going to add this to her litany of things I was doing wrong with my life. I didn’t even want to tell her why I wasn’t going back to the meetings since she always thought I was exaggerating about Misty’s behavior.

Halfway to the church, I noticed all of Rose’s lights were on. I changed my direction toward the kitchen door of the rectory. Coming home had been so much more comforting since she’d been here.

I knocked before unlocking the door. Rose sat with her knees under her chin at the table with a carton of ice cream and a spoon in her mouth.

“Hey.” She wiped a tear from her face and went back in for another spoonful.

That single tear on her face diverted all my attention. “Hey. Are you alright?” She had a full face of makeup and a low-cut halter top, and her hair, although mussed, was straightened. She looked beautiful, but I missed the curls.

She shrugged. “Rough night. How was your meeting?”

I huffed a laugh. I was pretty sure I could guess what Rose would think about the church groupandMisty. “Honestly? Pretty rough, too.”

She waved her spoon in the air. “You’re welcome to pull up a spoon and a chair. It’s chocolate chocolate chip.”

“Three magic words.” I grabbed a spoon and sat beside her, oddly relieved just to be in her presence. “Wanna talk about it?”

“I…” she paused dramatically and waved her spoon for effect. “Got dumped.”

“What? No way.” Who would dump this amazing woman? “I’m sorry.” I dug my spoon into the carton right after her.

“Yep. Isaac was cheating on me.”

“Seriously?” Now I was mad all over again. “What an asshole!”

“Right? Thank God I got a clean bill of health at my gyno check-up after I last saw him. I mean, I made him wear condoms, but I—why are men?”

I shook my head. “You didn’t deserve that. How long were y’all together?”

“Three months, but really only the first month, before he went on tour. He’s the singer for the Public Droids. They’re a kinda shitty punk band.” Her eyes met mine as she dug in the carton again. “Why was your night so bad?”

“Um…” If I told her, Rose would be so angry on my behalf. I didn’t want to make her night any worse, and I didn’t want to talk about it anyway. “It’s not a big deal. Your night was definitely worse than mine.”

She shrugged it off. “It’s okay. It was only about sex anyway. I have what you call—” she held up finger quotes—“daddy issues. But I spent the evening with Steely Dan, and now I’m having ice cream. So, it’s totally fine.”

“Well, that’s…a lot to unpack. Big Steely Dan fan?” I shoveled a heaping spoonful into my mouth.

“Bigfan. Steely Dan’s my favorite vibrator.”

I choked on my ice cream, managing to swallow it down before a coughing fit.

She laughed and patted my back while I recovered. “I’m sorry. Is that TMI?”

“Nope.” I laughed nervously and risked a glance at her. She was looking down into the ice cream carton, digging with her spoon. Maybe it was the perfect quarter-curves of her breasts above that halter top, maybe it was all those months of celibacy, maybe it was her cavalier mention of Steely Dan. But an image of Rose lying naked across my bed popped into my mind. Her curls were spread out, and a vibrator was between her thighs. And it was glorious.

My face heated up as I changed the subject. “Dare I ask what you mean about daddy issues?”

“Oh, you know. The old story. Guy meets girl. Guy marries girl. Guy decides he wants a divorce while girl’s seven months into their second pregnancy.” She pointed at herself. “That’s me. I’m that second baby. I grew up understanding that relationships don’t last. So, I keep it all about sex so I don’t get hurt.”

“That’s not fair. Why do people always say a woman has daddy issues, as if it’s her fault that her dad left and caused the family trauma?”

She stopped with her spoon halfway to her mouth and looked at me for a moment. “Huh.” Spoon back into motion. “Feminism is a good look on you.” She smiled around a mouthful of ice cream.

“You deserve so much better. I mean first with the dig about you not looking good in pictures—which I know to be a lie, because I’ve been editing video with you in it all week. And now this.”

She didn’t meet my eyes. “I don’t know what I even saw in him. He kept harping on me to lose weight. He traveled all the time. Literally all I asked was for him to be exclusive, and he couldn’t even handle that.”

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