Page 11 of Too Close To Call

He pauses and turns away. He doesn’t say any more, but his actions speak louder than any words could. He gets in his car and drives away, putting a great big period on the end of our relationship.

“I’m sorry, my love. I am so damn sorry,” I mutter as I watch him speed down the driveway.

Is this it? It can’t be. It hurts so deeply that it’s hard to breathe. I drop to my knees and let the tears fall until I’m a weeping mess.

Once my tears dry, I know one thing—I have a daughter at home who needs me. I don’t want her to ever see me this broken or weak. I brush myself off and wipe the dampness from my face. Pushing to my feet, I’m numb inside, but one step at a time I walk up to the house.

The same house I grew up in. The house I lived in with my father and with Case. The house where I thought we’d live our happily ever after.

Carina is sitting on the couch when I walk in. I don’t have to say a word before she wraps me in her arms and leads me to the couch.

“Daisy is tucked in bed and asleep. What happened, sweetie?” she asks as she lets me drench her silk shirt. “It was Case, wasn’t it? I saw you with him in the parking lot at Nicky’s.”

I nod, sniffle, and take the tissue she offers. I hate that I’ve turned into such a crybaby. That’s not me. “Yeah, he was at Nicky’s. We were both shocked to see each other.”

“Why is he here?”

I blow my nose and shrug. “I guess he came early for the charity race. He was in the booth behind us at Nicky’s.”

“It didn’t go well?” she asks.

I wipe my damp cheeks again and slowly shake my head. A bone-weary tiredness hits me. “I told him, Car. I told him everything and he left.”

“What do you mean he left? Is he coming back?”

I chuckle and it brings on a new stream of tears. “I truly doubt it. I was able to apologize for what I said and I got to tell him about Dad’s heart attack. But the other thing was just too much for him.”

Dr. Whitaker, my therapist, said once I apologized to Case, I’d have closure and be at peace with the past. She was wrong. I don’t feel peaceful. I feel as if I’m in pieces and can never be mended.

“Daisy?” Carina asks and I nod.

I blow my nose and sniffle. That’s how I will get through this. I need to be strong for my baby. “I will never regret my daughter, but I do wish her father was Case.”

“That’s understandable. Although as fathers go, Ryan hasn’t been a horrible one.”

“No. I will give him that. He didn’t have to stick around or be part of Daisy’s life, but he did. I have always wondered if the reason Ryan stepped up was because of his guilt at sleeping with his best friend’s girl.”

“What was it like seeing Case again?”

The sweetest pain of my life. “Like no time had passed, yet like I didn’t know him at all. We didn’t get a chance to talk. You know, just talk.”

“You still love him?”

. “That will never change, Car. Case is it for me,” I honestly admit, and this brings on yet more tears.

“Tori, you have got to get it together,” Carina snaps. “You love Case. You pushed him away all those years ago and you didn’t fight hard enough to get him back. I thought you were wrong then and you are damn wrong now. Girl, I love you, but you let him slip through your hands once. Don’t do it this time. Go get him. Don’t let your guilt over what happened hold you back. Don’t make the same mistake twice.”

I blink and stare at my friend. Who is she? “But what if he doesn’t love me anymore? What if he can never forgive…”

“You hurt him, Tori. I never said it would be easy, but there’s no way I can believe he doesn’t love you anymore. I was there and I saw the love in his eyes every time he looked at you. You can’t just turn that off.”

“But—”

“Stop. Don’t use your job as an excuse. You know the guys will fill in for you. And don’t I remember that Case lives at the beach? You have never taken a vacation. Daisy only has a few more weeks of school. She’ll be thrilled to go to the beach.”

A vacation? On Faire Island? My first few visits to the island didn’t go well. They were brief, but long enough to see the beauty of the area. “Yeah, he does. His whole family lives on Faire Island. And Ryan has Daisy for the last two weeks of June.”

“There ya go.”

---