Page 79 of Every Broken Promise
“You finally said my name, beautiful.”
He wasn’t gloating. His hands moved from my waist, sliding upward until they cupped my cheeks.
I didn’t know what to do.
I wanted to stay in this position, but I knew I shouldn’t when my mind was too confused.
“Tyler,” I said again because, it seemed like, it was the only word I could speak.
“What is it, beautiful?” His tone was mellow and his eyes soft.
It was too much.
It was like being given your favorite dessert after having the sourest taste in your mouth.
“I have to go,” I whispered as I pushed back and ran to my car, glad I had left it on.
TWENTY-NINE
Tyler Kane kissed me,and life, as I knew, was ruined.
I know it sounded super dramatic to say, but I had fantasized about this since I was fourteen years old. Something I didn’t admit to myself I wanted until I was sixteen. And now that it had happened, it had taken over my life.
I could feel his breath on my skin whenever I closed my eyes. The phantom feel of his lips on mine stayed with me all night. To say I was confused was an understatement.
“I’m so fucking sorry I fucked up, and I hurt your feelings, Astrid, but you up and left, then ripped me out of your life. You didn’t even give me a chance to make up for it.”
Did he have a point?
Why was I going crazy over this now? I had made peace with it, but maybe, just maybe, I had acted too brashly.
I half expected him to come to my parents’ house on Sunday for dinner. I might have put more effort into my Sunday chill look. I waited in the living room and even asked my parents if they needed help with anything.
What gave it away was asking my mom if Tyler would stop by. My mom looked at me, and I swear I saw her gloat, but she didn’t comment further on it.
I opened my laptop and pulled up a new Word doc instead of touching the email with all the anonymous gossip. Sunny Pines’s growth inspired me, and seeing the coffee-shop-now-diner brimming with clients, I wanted some of that magic for Lupe.
Orianna wanted to break a big story. She wanted her name attached to stories that changed people’s minds, but that wasn’t my style, and that was okay.
Words held power, and I wanted my words to move people. If I could write a compelling piece to accompany my stories, highlighting local shops, and bring in a few new customers or attract people who want to try things that are new to them, then that would fulfill me.
My anonymous collum did that in a way. Sure, I spread “gossip,” but I only did it when someone else was in the wrong. When someone did something shitty and I thought it deserved to come to light. I guess after what happened to me, it was my own way of bringing some sort of poetic justice.
The more I started to brainstorm what I wanted to write and things I could use to entice others from the surrounding counties to come, the more it lit a fire in me. This feeling was something I had been missing in my life for a long time. It was a sense of belonging—something I always felt I had when I was around Tyler.
It was a feeling I chased while I was away at college. I wanted to succeed because that was the only thing I had going for me then.
When I returned, I had none of that, and I had been drifting for a while now. As confused as I felt, a deeper part felt I was going in the right direction.
Rachel’s carwasn’t in the driveway on Monday morning, which sucked because I wanted coffee, but I understood her father-in-law had needs. I got in my car and cursed when the stupid oil change light kept popping on.
What was I supposed to do?
“I should have done this all along.”
Had he really wanted to do that all along? If he had, why hadn’t he said anything sooner? Or was this just because I had left and his feelings for me were confusing him?
Augh, boys were stupid.
