Page 71 of Once Upon a Beast

Too much puking, not enough talking.

And now it was too late.

She took one last look at the house, the yard that until yesterday had become a place she couldn’t wait to visit, then climbed into her truck and headed west instead of back into town. She didn’t need to go home and cry some more. She needed to think, to process everything that had transpired over the last few weeks. The best place to do that, of course, was on her tree swing.

The familiarity of gravel crunching beneath her tires brought her no joy today, nor did the sight of fluffy growing ducklings scurrying after their mama as her truck approached. Rex wasn’t on the porch to help bring a smile to her face, likely still relegated to the indoors while her father monitored the seizures, and her dad wasn’t out in the yard. Why did her whole world feel so dreary today?

Because Isaac had happened, that’s why.

She settled onto her favorite childhood seat, leaned her elbows onto her knees, and closed her eyes. In an instant he was there, the memory so fresh that she could still imagine the way his cologne smelled. Could still hear his voice, feel his touch. She ached with a longing to have it all back again.

But she couldn’t. He was gone.

“I’ve learned over the years that you sit differently on that swing depending on what’s troubling you. When your mind is busy, you lean back. When your heart is heavy, you lean forward.”

On a humorless laugh, Del turned to spy her father easing onto the lawn beside her. “Sometimes you’re too smart for your own good, Pops.”

“Your mother used to tell me the same thing.” He winked. “So who’s gone and broken my sweet pea’s heart this time?”

She looked to the grass beneath her feet, its green beginning to fade with fall nearly upon them. “No one to blame but myself this time. Got a little too close to the flame. Should have known better.”

“Should have known better than to get near the fire or one flame in particular?”

“One. Any of them. What difference does it make?”

“I take it Isaac left then.”

She sat up and met her father’s gaze. “How did you know?”

“Brooklyn. She was here earlier in the week, helping me feed the ducklings. Told me all about this Isaac and how some crazy ex-girlfriend of his had started a smear campaign online. She knew how much he meant to you, so she got a few of her friends together and they made their own videos, calling out this woman for the nutcase that she was in the hopes that it would clear Isaac’s name. I thought she did a pretty nice job with them.”

“Brooklynmade those videos?”

Del hung her head. Oh, the irony. The girl who’d brought them together had ultimately driven them apart.

“She was trying to help.”

“Oh, she helped, all right,” Del said. “Helped me see what an idiot I was for starting to care about him.”

“Sweet pea, there is nothing more beautiful in this world than caring for other people. The tricky part for some of us is that we start focusing too much on everyone else and forget to make sure our own wants and needs are met.”

She snorted. “I don’tneeda man, Pops.”

“But you wanted this one.”

No. Maybe.

Oh, who was she kidding? “Yes.”

A smile curled the corners of his lips. “Then do what you need to do to get him back.”

“You make it sound so easy,” she said, toeing the ground. “He left, went back to his other life. I’m still here.”

“And?”

“What, you expect me to drop everything and chase after him? Pops, Bourbon Falls is what I love. There’s nowhere I’d rather be than my hometown. If”—she swallowed hard—“the people I care about can’t see that, then it’s their loss, not mine.”

“I think it’s both your loss,” he said with a sad smile. “With love comes compromise. In my experience, the couples whose relationships last are the ones who work together to decide what they’re comfortable giving. And what they’re open to receiving.”

---