Page 127 of Hound Dog
I hated that I was crying.
I hated that I let a guy affect me so deeply in a matter of weeks, while the breakup with Ben, a guy I had almost moved in with, barely registered in my heart.
In the movie playing, a loud noise came from the basement and the leading lady peeked down the stairs.
Still holding me tightly, Maisie scoffed. “Why do these dumb bitches always follow the noise into the basement?”
My sob morphed into a hiccup laugh. “They’re not dumb bitches. They’re fighting for their lives.”
Maisie arched a skeptical brow at me. “Armed with a frying pan?”
Okay, so she probably could have grabbed a better weapon, but I wasn’t about to give up that easily. “I mean, blunt force trauma can kill.”
Maisie rolled her eyes. “So can a knife and that’s also readily available in the kitchen.”
Fair point. I wiped the tears that were no longer falling, but still staining my cheeks. Thank the lord for Maisie. She knew just how to distract me from myself. “At least she thought to grab a weapon. A lot of the women in horror movies don’t.”
“She really believes she’s going to be able to survive the psychopath with a chainsaw on a murderous rampage… with afrying pan?”
“At least she’s trying. She’s not only fighting for her life, but for her loved ones. For her boyfriend who’s bleeding out in the garage and her little brother who’s hiding in the upstairs closet.”
“Huh,” Maisie said. “So, you do believe in fighting for love?”
“Maisie.” I shot her a warning glare.How did I not see this coming?“It’s not my job to fight for someone who doesn’t want me.”
“Hedoeswant you. He’s just… broken.”
“Exactly. And as much as I want to fix him,I can’t. He has to fix his own shit.”
Maisie sighed and grabbed a discarded sponge from my water bucket, haphazardly running it across the baseboard. “I know, you’re right. But that doesn’t mean you should make it easy on him walking away. It doesn’t mean you should stay away from a town you loveagain. Or not visit Meryl for another six years.”
“That’s not what’s happening, and you know it.”
“Do I?”
“He made his choice, Maisie.”And he didn’t choose me. “I need to respect that. And so doyou.”
That didn’t mean I didn’t want to hold his hand. Love him through this. Help him as he navigated this painful new relationship he’d started with his father.
But it wasn’t in the cards. It was time to let him go.
“And what about when he changes his mind? When he realizes he fucked up and comes crawling back to you?”
“He won’t.”
“Hewill,” Maisie argued.
“He didn’t six years ago. What makes you think this time will be any different?”
“Because this time, he isn’t some young kid. This time, he doesn’t have a fraternity to fall back on. And this time, he’s in love with you. He just doesn’t know it yet.”
I rolled my eyes. She’d almost convinced me… until she said that. “Trust me, he doesn’t love me.”
“You didn’t see what I saw,” Maisie said. “When he walked into that party, he had hearts coming out of his eyes.”
I hadn’t seen Finn when he walked into the party, I’d been too shocked seeing Ben there.
“You didn’t answer me,” Maisie said. “What happens when Finn realizes his mistake and begs you to take him back? Will you forgive him and let yourself be happy?”
