Page 13 of Every Bit As Perfect
I forgot to say goodnight to Hunter.
I always touched the back of the empty chair on my way out.Always.My lapse tormented me, the ache in my chest returning with a vengeance.
Because if there was one person who deserved my attention, it was Hunter.
I curled into the couch, pulled the blanket up over my shoulders, tucked my hands under my chin, and released a shuddering breath.
I could not forget about Hunter.Forgetting even once left a sick, hollow pit in my stomach.Forgetting meant carrying on as if he hadn’t been the brightest spot in my life.
The bright spot in all our lives.
Forgetting made him nothing more than a memory.
And he deserved better than that.
5
Nevertheless
Iknewthatlaugh.
Sliding off the picnic bench, I tossed my greasy Krippy’s Chippy plate into the garbage can and slowly turned around, some latent, reptilian sense of self-preservation warning me I would not like what I was about to see.
From across the patio, over the heads of far too many other people, Paul’s smile faded as his gaze locked on mine.
The woman seated opposite him followed his line of sight until she, too, clocked me.She turned back to him and smiled before softly patting his hand and nodding in my direction.
He took her hand with a tenderness he’d never shown me.
The chatter and laughter all around me faded into the distance.
He brought her here?To Krippy’s Chippy?He knew I practically lived here.Was he trying to rub her in my face?
Was this some ploy to get me back?He didn’t seem all that heartbroken when I ended things.
Ugh, was that hope in my chest?
I swallowed past the lump lodged in my suddenly parched throat.With my feet glued to the concrete, I stared at the vignette in front of me as if it was a bad car accident rather than the crash and burn remnants of my only real relationship.
And it was heading my way.
Stopping in front of me, he smiled tentatively.“You still love Krippy’s Chippy?”
“Of course,” I croaked, then cleared my throat.I nodded toward the shoreline.“You know how much I love the beach.”
“Yeah,” he ducked his head.“I’m sorry.I shouldn’t have come here.”
“It’s fine,” I clipped.“It’s a public place.”
“Nevertheless,” he murmured.“It was too soon.”
Speaking of too soon, I blurted out, “You’re dating?”
I hated myself as soon as the words skipped off my loose lips.Why wouldn’t he be dating?Just because I was stuck in a time warp going over and over our relationship determined to see where I went wrong didn’t mean he was.
He was moving on.That was good.
I needed to do the same.
