Page 28 of Choosing Forever
“Tell it to fuck off, then. She’s alone. Go talk to her.”
I don’t pretend to not know who he’s talking about. I’ve been staring at her since the moment she got here exactly fifty-four minutes ago.
“It’s better if I don’t.”
“Why? Because you don’t want to put yourself out there?” he asks.
“This day is about Bryce. Not me.”
“Bryce isn’t even over here. She’s been doing flash tattoos for the last hour.”
I know. She threatened to give me one on the tip of my nose if I didn’t stop hovering around her.
From the moment Delaney walked in the door, none of the pre-rehearsed lines I’d repeated to myself mattered. They’d disappeared into nothingness, leaving me with an empty brain. So, yeah, I was unapologetically using Bryce as a shield.
That didn’t stop me from looking at her, though. I just couldn’t stop myself. After going so long without catching a glimpse of her freckles or platinum hair, one unexpected glance had me desperate for more. It was like the Earth had been off course and finally realigned. Like I’ve been living in a windowless room and finally got to see the sun again.
“One day, she’s goin’ to stop comin’ to things alone,” Brody says, voice low.
My muscles lock as I force my words up through the sudden nausea. “She will.”
“And by then, you won’t have the power to do anythin’ about it,” he adds.
“It would be fair. I was with Sasha.”
“And miserable the entire time. I don’t think you’ve ever accepted just how bad you were doin’ back then or how obvious it was to everyone who knew you.”
“It’s in the past now. Why does it matter? You’re wanting me to go up to my ex-girlfriend and what, Brody? Ask her if she’s okay after losing her grandmother? The one person she had left in this town? I didn’t do it two weeks ago when I should have.”
“I’m sure she’d still appreciate hearin’ it from you.Especiallyfrom you.”
My stomach rolls, heat flushing up my throat. “She came here alone, surrounded by my friends and our families. She did that for Bryce and the women in our lives because they simply asked her to. I have no place ruining that kindness and making it about me.”
Brody lays a hand on my shoulder, firmly tugging me. “So make itabout her. That’s all. Then let it go. It’s clearly been upsettin’ you that you haven’t reached out to her since we all heard about her grandma.”
“Fine. Yeah. Then you’ll let it go,” I demand.
He keeps his expression unreadable. “For now.”
I adjust the brim of my cap and glance past him at where Delaney still stands. As I push past the guilt and fear sizzling in my gut like wet Pop Rocks, I duck around Brody and head in her direction.
Every step is heavy and feels like there’s fresh cement in my shoes. I pass a few groups of people who look from me to my destination before spinning to whisper to someone. I grit my teeth and ignore them all. If Bryce or Poppy were with me, they’d make a show of telling them to fuck off. It’s what they’ve been doing on my behalf for the past decade, even if I don’t need them to defend me at every turn. It’s second nature at this point to ignore the voices of those who don’t really know shit about me.
Deep green eyes snap toward me. I slow my pace, struggling beneath the weight of emotions in that simple stare. My ribs pierce into my heart when Delaney straightens in her spot beside the bathroom door and closes off her expression. The flowy burnt-orange skirt she’s wearing brushes her calves when she twists and shifts enough that she’s no longer facing me directly.
I should have taken that as sign enough that this conversation wasn’t going to go well.
Instead of listening to my gut, I stayed, and the words that followed broke my heart all over again. I don’t think I can have it happen again. Not when I haven’t healed from the very first break. Agreeing to go along with Bryce’s drive-in rebuild idea was reckless. Yet, I haven’t been able to bail out yet.
Delaney Brooks might have been my first, last, and only heartbreak, but I still refuse to believe that that’s all she’ll be.
“Last I remembered, I was the first one of us to fall in love,” I say.
Bryce’s surprise matches Brody’s. It’s Poppy who speaks first.
“Well, how about that? You’re not trying to forget about your great love anymore, then?”
“I didn’t say that.”
