Page 93 of Finding Their Place

My fingers closed over my keys in my bag’s front pocket, and even though my hands shook, I managed to peel the one off I no longer needed. “You can take this goddamn piece of shit job, shove it up your prissy, fake ass, and enjoy riding the hell out of it while you can because twats like you eventually end up alone and miserable.”

I slapped the offensive bit of metal onto the table between us.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Her voice raised as I started toward the showroom, slinging my bag over my shoulder.

“Away from your toxic ass!” I shot over my shoulder. “Have fun trying to run this place without me.”

I strode past racks of designer clothes.

“See ya,” I murmured to Darren who redecorated the bay window since Gretchen had bitched about the job I’d done the day before.

He stared at me. “Shit...don’t you dare leave me alone with her!” he hissed.

“I’ve put up with her manipulation and emotional abuse for long enough. If you’re smart, you’ll quit too.”

“Haley!” Gretchen called after me, her voice bordering on a shriek I’d heard countless times once she’d lost her shit.

I walked out the door. Let the fucking thing slam behind me to I wouldn’t have to deal with her tirade.

Although pride for finally standing up for myself and giddiness tickled my stomach, I was ready to buckle. Exhaustion clung to my spine, quickly slowing my steps that had been peppy due to sudden freedom from that bitch.

I had no backup plan. No college education. No rich daddy to provide for me until I found another job.

But I was a survivor—I’d been on my own since the day I’d turned eighteen.

I’d gone on alone before, and I would do it again.

Tomorrow, I promised myself, planning on a night of pretending Lily was there to help me celebrate what I should have done months earlier.

I ate an entire half-gallon of ice cream for dinner while watching Friends reruns. The hottest spray I could handle hit my aching back while I stood in the shower. Bottle of chardonnay in hand, I crashed on the couch again.

Lonely and far from celebratory.

My chest caved in, empty and aching for my koala and Wyatt’s delicious distractions that never failed to lighten my mind. I missed them both to the point of tears I refused to shed.

Just to torture myself, I listened to Garrett’s message again. Memories of our laughter, our teasing, filled my mind, and I relived every second he, Wyatt, and I had spent together—their hands on my skin, loving on me. The gasps and groans that had heated me to the point of combustion.

“Fuck.” I scrubbed at the wet tracks on my cheeks and sucked down oxygen, determined to keep my shit together even though I’d enjoyed two glasses of wine and was well on my way toward being overly buzzed.

My cell rang, and I grabbed it of the couch cushion beside me, thinking—hoping—Garrett tried to call me again.

A number I didn’t recognize flashed on my screen with the same area code as Lily’s old cell number. Only one family resided near the city of Philadelphia that I knew of.

Wariness crept up my spine, making my skin shiver and tightening my stomach.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Haley? It’s your uncle.”

Lily’s dad—the only uncle I had.

Unease erupted inside me at the thought of my cousin and best friend having been in some tragic accident, and I bolted upright. “Is Lily okay? She’s still in Mexico with Grey and Blaine, right?”

“She’s fine, Haley,” he stated quietly, and by the tone of his voice, I could tell something else wasn’t. “I’m calling about your mom.”

How much shit could a woman take in one day?

I sank back, closed my eyes, and listened as my mom’s brother filled me in on what had gone down at St. Catherine’s Behavioral Hospital where she had been institutionalized for close to a year.

---