Page 107 of Since We're Here
But my heart was already gone.
A month later, he told me he’d been hanging out with a girl in his program. I was devastated. Noah talked about her while he and I were together, like what we were doing was only making dinner and not also hooking up.
She was tall, well-traveled, and so smart. Successful. The exact opposite of me.
I finally made a good decision and told him we couldn’t hook up anymore. I stuck it out for a few more months, determined not to let another man force me to quit a job.
But when Aunt Evelyn passed away and I had the bucket list excuse to leave, I took it so fast. It was time to reimagine my life.
Noah still texts me occasionally, checking in. He now lives in Geneva with that same girl.
Breakup Reason: he found a real girlfriend
My Distress Level: 10
Lesson Learned: I can’t trust myself to tell the difference between a hookup, a friendship, and a boyfriend.
“You know Reese is going to lose her shit over this, right?” Stella says from across the kitchen table in her flat in North London, through a mouthful of green chicken curry from her favorite Thai food place.
“What part of it?” I moan and appreciate the burning of my red curry as it scorches the taste buds on my tongue. “And also,this is the best Thai food I’ve ever had.” I wipe a tear from below my watering eyes.
“Yup. Welcome to London.” Stella stands and grabs the half-full bottle of red wine from the counter. “More wine?”
“Yes. Definitely more wine.” I’m mostly a beer person, but when I’m around my sisters, the bottles of red come out.
“It’s hard to pinpoint which lie she’ll be most angry about. There are several to choose from.” She pauses, bottle in hand.
“Don’t remind me.” I hold out my glass and Stella pours both of us a generous refill and settles back in her chair.
“It could be the part where you dropped out of your hospitality program because you were upset over a boy named Blue—a guy she warned you against.”
“Ouch.”
“Blue, Maddie. His name was Blue.”
“His name was actually Brian. He’s from Ohio.” I can’t help the smile on my face as I remember Patrick making fun of my latest ex.
“Exactly.” She crinkles her nose.
I laugh at the look on her face. “Sorry we can’t all be blissfully happy with a hot English rugby player.”
“Whatever.” Stella waves her hand around. “Ethan’s alright.”
I stare at her with my jaw open, and when she finally makes eye contact, we crack up.
“Fine, he’s amazing. So?”
I sigh. “And I didn’t quit the program because of Blue. Well, the breakup was the push I needed, but it wasn’t the wrong decision.”
Stella narrows her eyes at me. “Let’s put a pin in that for a minute and finish talking about hot ex-pro athletes.” She swirls her wine, leaving pretty red rings on the sides of the glass. “The other part that might be a bit troublesome to Reese is how yousecretly flew to Ireland instead of Saint Lucia and unabashedly stalked Oliver’s best friend.”
I groan. “No, that’s not how it went down at all, I swear. I went to Dingle because... ”Wait. Why did I go there?
“Because...” Stella waits patiently for me to continue.
“I needed an escape. A place where I could regroup without being under Reese’s magnifying glass. I couldn’t stay at her house while I figured this all out.”
“It actually makes sense.” My sister scoops a generous mound of curry onto her spoon and shoves it in her mouth.
