Page 29 of One Sweet Day is Never Enough

Still, the question remained: was he really ready to break up with her?

He sighed. Yes, he was.

“Listen, I don’t want to do this right now. I’ve been up since four a.m. I’m exhausted and I can’t even think straight. Let’s talk tomorrow. Go have fun with the guys.”

“Sure, go ahead, blow me off. I obviously don’t matter to you anymore, Seth.” And there it was. Defensive, unreasonable, drunk Stacey.

“That’s not it. It’s just not the right time. You’re out. Go play darts.”

“The right time for what?” She paused. “Are you dumping me?”

She was baiting him. He didn’t know how to answer that. He hesitated.

“You are, aren’t you?” She swore at him. “I knew it. I knew this was coming.”

“Stacey, calm down. Let’s have a civil conversation tomorrow, okay? I’ll call you then. Tell the guys I said hi.”

He wasn’t about to stand here and have her fire away at him all night. She couldn’t be rational when she was like this.

“Goodnight, Stacey. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Don’t hang up on me, Seth! Don’t you dare hang up on me!”

“I’m nothanging upon you. I’m saying goodnight.” Sometimes he thought he was dating a two-year-old, for crying out loud.

“Well, don’t bother calling me tomorrow then! I’m going to make it easy on you. I’m breaking up withyou!”

Seth stopped. Was she kidding? Guilt filtered over him—this could make things a whole lot easier on him. He was definitelyoverthis whole thing, especially now. And why didn’t he care? “Areyou?”

“Yeah,” she said. “How’sthatfeel?”

Seth let out a heavy sigh. It felt like a huge weight off his shoulders, if he were being honest. “Fine, then,” he said calmly. “We’re done.”

He heard her huff again. “That’s it? That’s all you’re gonna say?”

It was his turn to get defensive. “What do you want me to say?”

“That I shouldn’t do it—that you don’t want me to break up with you! That we have too much history together.”

“What?” This was really taking a strange turn. He snorted, shaking his head. “But you just said—”

“I know what I said!” She was yelling now. It was the booze.

“Look, we can talk more tomorrow. I’ve got to go. Really.” His head was starting to pound.

She sounded angry, breathing heavily into the phone, but she finally went quiet. “Fine.”

He heard a click and she was gone.

Seth shook his head and looked up at the sky, stretching out his shoulders. Could this be for real? Was it actually over?

All he’d have to do tomorrow, when she was calm, was tell her the truth, apologize, and be done with it. It was like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

* * *

The next morning,Gia jogged beside Courtney on a trail that meandered alongside the lake from Courtney’s cottage.

“So how did things go with Seth yesterday?” Courtney ventured.

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