Page 31 of Beautiful Broken Love

“I do! It’s been two years for us now, and I swear I saw him scrolling through wedding rings on his phone a few weeks ago.”

“Aww, that’ll be nice, Tish. You should go with him to the beach, see if it’s actually more than what he says.” I plopped some noodles on my plate as Tish opened a new bottle of wine.

“I don’t know. We have so much to set up for the rebranding party, and I was supposed to work this Saturday to help out at the warehouse.”

I stopped loading my plate to penetrate her with my eyes. “Tisha Cole. I appreciate your devotion, I truly do, but life is too short. Go with Lorenzo. Spend some quality time with him. The warehouse can wait.”

I pressed my lips and fought the sudden tug in my chest. Talking about this made me miss Lewis, and to add fuel to the fire, my eyes traveled to one of the photos on the floating shelves.

We were standing hand in hand on the shore of Newport Beach. Lew wanted to learn how to surf but was so bad at it. I was surprisinglygood. We were both sandy in the picture, with big white smiles and a grand turquoise ocean behind us.

“Hey.” A hand pressed to my back. Tish was standing closer. Her brown eyes searched mine as she asked, “You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.” I dropped my eyes to my plate and picked it up. “Just really hungry.” I carried the plate with me to the dining table and sat. Tish came my way with two empty wineglasses and the bottle of rosé, pouring both halfway.

After sliding the glass toward me, she said, “You can talk about Lewis at any time, Vina. I promise you I’m here to listen.”

“I know. I just feel like I’ve talked about him with you so much that you’re low-key sick of it.”

“Girl, shut up! I’m here for you no matter what.”

I could hardly see her, because my vision grew blurry. I blinked the tears away. “I know,” I murmured. “Thank you, Tish.”

“You know it, girl.”

As she prepared her food, I shuffled through mine with a fork, my appetite waning. I was relieved when she started talking about diamond cuts and silver or gold bands for her engagement ring. I didn’t want to talk about myself or Lew. It’d only depress me further. Plus, I was genuinely happy for Tish. She’d always wanted to get married.

When her phone rang, I was even more relieved, because it was Lorenzo calling, which created more of a distraction for her. She was worried about me, I could tell, but I didn’t want her to be. I was fine.

Tish went to the deck, and I took a few bites of food, guzzled down the rest of my wine, then went to the kitchen for my phone. I read Deke’s email again, then surfed through our previous emails.

They were bordering on flirtatious. I wasn’t sure I liked it. It wasn’t that Ididn’twant to talk to Deke ... I just didn’t want to send him the wrong signal.

But I admit it was comforting getting his emails. It felt good to chat with someone so late at night who wasn’t insisting that I get some rest. That’s all my sister and Tish did.

You need your rest, Davina!

Try to sleep, Vina!

It seemed neither Deke nor I could sleep at night—like we both had a lot on our minds after the clock struck twelve.

I scrolled back down and sent him a response.

Hey! Definitely hanging in there. Went back to work today actually. Tish thinks I’ve lost my mind and you probably will too. But I need work, you know? Don’t want to spiral too much and keeping busy helps. Thoughtful of you to check in. But whydoyou keep checking on me?

I waited for his response as I poured another glass of wine and carried it with me to the couch. Just like before, my heart sped up a notch when my phone chimed again and another email from him popped up.

Nothing wrong with working. Everyone copes differently. Can’t say I blame you for wanting to busy yourself. And about me checking in. You want the truth?

I couldn’t help smiling at his question.

I always want the truth,I returned.

Well the truth is that unlike 99% of the people I know, I actuallyliketalking to you. You’re mad cool, D.

Okay. I was smiling again. How was he so good at that?

Are you only saying that because you feel sorry for me right now?

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