Page 115 of My Silver Lining

“I forgot to tell you that I’ll miss you. That it’s been the best three months of my life, too. And that’s all because of you.”

He pushed forward, sitting up before moving to his feet and taking me with him.

“It’s fitting that you would pummel me when you said goodbye because it’s kind of your thing.” He smiled down at me.

Tears were running down my face now, and I didn’t even care. Burt blew his whistle, and I turned around and shouted at him. “Zip it, Burt. Let me say goodbye properly, or I’ll be taking you out next.”

He held his hands up and shook his head. “Fine. You’ve got two minutes, Blondie.”

“Oh, I see how you are. You only bend the rules for a pretty girl.”

Burt held his hands up in the air and turned his back to us.

“Thanks for coming back,” he said, swiping at the tears that were running down my cheeks with the pads of his thumbs. “Don’t cry, beautiful.”

I wanted to say it.

It was on the tip of my tongue.

I love you. I can’t stay, but I love you.

“I’m sorry for the back pain that you’ll wake up with tomorrow,” I said, as my voice wobbled.

“It’ll be worth it. Any pain I feel tomorrow, Lulu, it was all worth it.” There was so much more behind that statement, and we both knew it. The pain in his back would be nothing compared to the pain we’d both feel waking up alone.

He leaned down and kissed me.

A security car pulled up with flashing lights, and Rafe rolled his eyes. “I’m going.”

“I’ve got to get to my flight anyway. I’ll miss you, Rafael.”

“I’ll miss you, too,” he said, glancing down at his watch. “Go chase those dreams, Wildcat.”

I nodded. And then I turned on my heels, grabbed my bags, and started running toward my gate.

Running toward my future.

But I knew in that moment that I’d just left my heart behind.

thirty-one

. . .

Rafe

One monthand three days without her.

Too many drunken nights out with the boys where I moped like a pussy.

One disastrous pickleball game where I walked off the court.

This was my life now.

Nothing was going right. I moved back into my house, and though it was newly renovated and everything I wanted it to be, it didn’t feel like home.

Nothing was the same without her.

Lulu Sonnet had turned my world upside down, and now I didn’t know how to get back to where I was.

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