Page 45 of Every Broken Promise
Rachel raised her brow at me in defiance, and I took a sip of my coffee.
“Even if that man was Ty?”
I spat out my drink. Screw her for saying what I had been thinking about.
“Eww, gross. If Ty dared to send me any flowers, I would march over to the auto shop and shove them so far up his?—”
“I did not need the visual,” Rachel interrupted me.
“And I hope they have thorns. Lots and lots of thorns…but this isn’t about me. This is about you.”
I pointed a finger at her, trying to shift the conversation back to the matter at hand. Tyler and I were never going to happen, so I didn’t want to dwell on scenarios that were never going to come true.
I took another sip of my drink. Today was already draining me, and it wasn’t even nine a.m. yet.
“They’re from my ex-husband,” she told me, and at this rate, my coffee would end up splattered all over the floor rather than in my mouth.
“Astrid!” she chided.
“Don’t Astrid me. You were married and you never told me? What the hell, Rachel? Okay, forget what I said. We are going straight to the cops and telling them you are being harassed. Hell, we’ll go to the cops in all the nearby counties.”
I felt hypocritical scolding her for keeping her life private when I had not shared much of my own either, but Tyler and I had never been a thing, whereas marriage was a life commitment.
I was already trying to think of all the ways I could help her. Working on the paper didn’t give me many strings to pull, but I could have her back and give her strength.
She was hesitant to want to press charges, and it reminded me of how scared I had been on prom night. Doing the right thing was a bitch.
“Rachel…” I said softly. “I know standing up for yourself can be scary, but you can’t let fear stop you from doing the right thing.”
Doing the right thing had cost me the life I had led here and my best friend, but I still couldn’t bring myself to regret it.
With a second coffee in hand,I made my way toward work. Since I was up early, I don’t know why I let myself come into the town square for some bread. I found a parking spot across from the beauty salon. It was early enough that they had yet to open.
I got out of my car and noticed someone walking toward the salon, but I paid no mind to them.
“I see the rumors were true,” was said snidely.
I knew better than to twist my neck to see who was talking to me. I guess it was no surprise when I saw Samantha Foster glaring at me.
My stomach was in knots over seeing her—she always made me feel uneasy. She was the first girl in my class to have puberty hit her like a train wreck. One summer, she was plain and prepubescent like me. The next, she had boobs and curves. All the boys were fawning over her, and it was the first time I feared that someone would come between Ty and me.
She had dark wavy hair, pretty dark blue eyes, and the kind of waist most women envied.
Unfortunately, time had been graceful to her. She looked hot as ever. It was petty of me to think that way, but for the girl who made me feel inferior all through high school, I could make an exception. Let’s not forget she was the ringleader in my social massacre.
“Samantha,” I acknowledged her. “You work here?”
Please don’t own the place.I really wanted to check it out.
Her lip curled.
“Yes,” she let me know flatly.
She was certainly the type to gloat, and that right there told me she wasn’t the owner.
“I would say it was lovely to see you, but we both know it would be a lie,” I said as I turned around and began to walk away.
“Are you happy?” she called out after me. I halted my step but didn’t turn around. She took this as a sign to keep going. “Thanks to you, Ty and I never got married.”
