Page 15 of Until Tomorrow
You say that now…
ELLIOT: I have all the confidence in you, Eva Marie Cartwright-Ashwood.
I smiled to myself. Ever since I’d given him that little tidbit of information, he’d gone out of his way to include it in our conversations.Every conversation. Somehow, it was the little reminder I didn’t know I needed.
ELLIOT: Go kick some ass.
It’s not that kind of situation.
ELLIOT: Every situation is an ass-kicking situation once you reframe your thinking.
ELLIOT: Love you, short stuff. You’ve got this.
Love you too.
First step: a new coffee shop.
Next: get divorced.
Yeah, I hated the sound of that.But that was the road I was on, even if I hadn’t signed the papers. I just had to accept it. My husband wanted to date men, I needed a new coffee shop, and that was that.
“Here I go, here I go,” I whispered to no one in particular. Pushing my sunglasses atop my head, I hugged my clutch close to my sternum and made myself walk inside.
Note to self: chocolate in coffee? Absolutely an atrocity.
It was like drinking chocolate milk, and I hated chocolate milk. I hate milk in general. I didn’t even like coffee. I drank tea.I should’ve gone with the tea.But no, I’d been determined to try something completely different—outside of my comfort zone—just to prove I could.
And I didn’t like it.
I pushed the steaming cup away from me and folded my hands.Why did such a little thing feel like an omen of what was coming for me?
I found myself enthralled with a couple at a nearby table. Their laughter was boisterous as they shared a sandwich and talked about whatever. Both men were so captivated by one another that the world could’ve ended around them, and they probably wouldn’t have known. From their rings, they were married. Married and living their best life.
Was that Logan’s future? Was I just his first wife? Well… first spouse? Would he find a man he loved and marry him? Would he marry Elliot?
Would he be happy?
For as angry as I was with him and with the situation, some of those emotions had begun to ebb and fade away. Something akin to sadness replaced it. Sadness for myself, but also sadness for him. I couldn’t imagine what he was going through. What he had to be thinking.
Inthe more recent years, his anxiety had grown exponentially. I could only begin to imagine how intense it was as he navigated this alone. He deserved better than that.
“You know, staring isn’t polite.” A woman’s voice—stern and unhappy—pulled me from my thoughts.
“What?” I blinked, shaking myself out of my gaze. The woman sitting at the table across from me watched me closely, her mouth turned down in a deep frown. She was pretty with a soft face and fire in her dark eyes behind a pair of crooked glasses. Ashy blonde hair showed off her dark roots, and wild strands framed her face, sticking out at all angles. From where I sat, I could see at least three pens sticking out from the clip holding it up.
“You’re staring.” She tipped her head in the direction of the oblivious couple. ”It’s rude. And if you’re staring because of the relationship they have, you’re—”
“No, no,” I interjected and waved her off. “I wasn’t… okay, I was, but I wasn’t. Not really. Honestly, my head is a million miles away.”
Boy, I sucked at this.
“Are you okay?” she asked. Her head tilted slightly as she continued to scrutinize me.
“I’m fine,” I lied. The words came out so casually that I almost believed it.
“Would you like to talk about it?”Who was this woman?
“No,” I said. She made a small sound like she didn’t believe me. While I hoped she’d leave me be, the woman grabbed her tote bag and her coffee mug. She left her table only to join me at mine. “Oh… hi. Hello. What are we doing?”
