Page 95 of The Pocket Pair

I walk away before I collapse, stepping over his discarded boots on my way to the door. As I close the door, I say, “Call me Val.”

But I’m not sure it was loud enough for him to hear.

* * *

Within an hour, I’m safely on Winnie’s couch, falling apart while sandwiched between her and Kyoko with the OC offering his one-eyed support by loud purrs. I’m translating his kittyspeak into veiled threats to make Chevy pay.

“The thing is,” I say, my voice hoarse from all the crying, “I’m not just hurt and mad and all the breakup feels. I’m worried about him.”

“As you should be,” Winnie says through clenched teeth. “I did warn him.”

“I didn’t mean worried about you. Worried about whatever had him practically frozen.”

“There are no excuses for this,” Winnie says.

“I’ll only help if no jail time is involved,” Kyoko says. “My specialty is in long-term prank warfare.”

I’m quite sure I don’t even want to know what that means.

I touch Winnie’s arm, making sure she meets my gaze. “Will you check on him? When you go get my stuff?”

Her eyes narrow. “Oh, I’ll check on him, all right.”

“Win, I’m serious.”

“So am I.”

I pause to blow my nose. Half a tissue box has been sacrificed to my sadness already. “I think something happened today. There was a guy with him at the station. And now that I’m thinking back, there was this vibe. I kind of ignored it because I was in a hurry but …”

Winnie blows out a breath, then rolls her eyes. “Fine. I’ll check on him. In a nice, caring, sisterly way.” She stands, then mutters under her breath, “And then I’ll check on him the way I really want to.”

“Need help?” Kyoko asks.

“You stay with Val. Keep her hydrated to replace all the liquids she’s losing. Feed her if she’ll eat. Don’t let her near her phone, and no watching any sad or romantic things and no sad ballads of any kind. Sarah McLachlan is off the table. Same with Nick Drake and—”

Kyoko waves a hand. “I got it.”

Before she leaves the loft, Winnie kisses the top of my head. “I love you, Valley Girl. You’ll always be my sister.”

What she doesn’t say—but I hear anyway—is that I’ll always be her sister, even if I’m never her sister-in-law.

“I’m going to get snacks,” Kyoko says. She adjusts the headband holding back her short, dark hair. “The kitchen is stocked, but we can also order out. What do you want?”

“Pizza,” I tell her. “Stuffed crust. I don’t care about toppings. And garlic bread. And chocolate.”

“A mountain of pizza and a river of chocolate coming right up.”

The moment Kyoko dashes off to order, I slide the phone she forgot to confiscate out of my purse. After checking to make sure I haven’t missed any calls or texts from Chevy—I haven’t; of course, I haven’t—I book the soonest plane ticket I can get for Costa Rica—one way.

CHAPTER 28

Chevy

After my sister moved out of my guest room, the quiet felt strange at first, like an old friend I was happy to see but had to get used to again. The silence felt like a soul-deep sigh.

Val left only hours ago, and my house feels all wrong. It’s haunted by the ghost of her, like Val’s absence isn’t something missing, but something extra added into the space. A wart. A skin tag. A tumor.

I hate it.

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