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“That’s not what this is about,” I argued, clenching my jaw.
“Then why won’t you try? Why are you so willing to let this go?” he asked.
“Because I know you’ll just up and leave when you get bored,” I spewed, the true fear that had been boiling at my core surfacing. “I know girls like me don’t get guys like you.”
He shook his head again, his own eyes looking watery.
“Maybe I was wrong,” he whispered then. “Maybe this wasn’t what I thought it was. You really didn’t see me like I thought you did.”
I steeled myself, biting my lip. The breakfast had cooled. An iciness sat between us, a cold block neither of us made a move to chip away.
“I guess this is goodbye then?” he asked.
I felt in that moment the heaviness of my next words. I knew that whatever I said would change the course of my life. I knew there would be no going back, either way. I inhaled deeply, closed my eyes, and tried to envision what I should do.
I opened them. I stared into the blue eyes of the stranger who had broken my ankle but healed my heart. Would I let him break it again?
I found the resolve. I said what I knew I needed to say.
And it did, in fact, change everything.
Chapter Forty-Four
Two weeks later
I sat on the balcony, looking out at the ocean view. Exhilarated crowds’ voices echoed off the buildings as tourists filled with hope, peace, and excitement meandered through the town. It made the sting of my life falling apart hurt a little more.
My ankle was healed. I’d have some physical therapy to go to, but I was able to stand on my own two feet again. Except I couldn’t.
Because the appointment with the third bank that morning had left me dejected. Despite my solid business plan and help from the business group, I’d been rejected for the business loan for Tillie’s Seaside Brews repeatedly. My not-so-distant failure had left its mark on everything. I wallowed in the shadow of the dream once more, this time with a twice-broken heart. Tears filled my eyes. My life was a mucked-up mess, my heart was torn in half by a popstar who had gone back to the UK, and I had no idea what I was going to do.
The door slid open, and Dad took a seat beside me. He undid his tie and kicked off his shoes, resting his feet on the banister and leaning way back.
“I’m taking it the bank meeting didn’t go so well today,” he asked. I looked at him.
“How did you hear already?”
