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“Yes! You weren’t the only one who committed to forever last night. Ryan asked me to marry him last night too!” a cheerful Cara sang into the phone. “The wedding will be in December, and I want you to be my maid of honor. Of course, I’ll return the favor!” she squealed. I could hear Ryan mumble something in the background, but couldn’t make out what it was.
I felt my stomach turn. It was those words that brought me back to why I was such a mess this morning. As if the breakup with Jim wasn’t enough, now I would have to face watching Cara and Ryan get married.
“Congratulations.” I sniffled, trying hard to be happy for my best friend. I knew I wasn’t kidding anyone. I sounded like shit, and happiness and excitement were the furthest emotion from my voice.
“Bailey?”
“Yeah?” I said through a tight throat, trying to stifle the heavy sobs I knew were coming.
“What is it? What happened?”
“How do you know something happened?” I said, my eyes now tear filled.
“Bailey?” Her voice was softer this time. “What happened?”
I let out a deep breath and wiped the tears from my eyes. “Oh, Jim and I broke up last night.” I sniffled. “He met someone else.”
“That dirty rat bastard. Where is he? I will kill him. Don’t hide him from me either, Bailey. I will find him and make sure he never uses his dick for anything ever again.”
Even though I felt awful, I couldn’t help but laugh through my tears at how protective Cara had always been. She’d been that way with Jackson in the beginning, too. “It’s okay, you don’t need to go all psycho. Our relationship - well, it just wasn’t meant to be. It comes as some sort of shock, though, after thinking that I would have an entirely different conversation with you this morning.”
“I’m sure. So what are you going to do now?”
“Honestly, I don’t really know. Find work, I guess. Figure out where life is going to take me now. Pick up the pieces.”
The line went quiet for a couple of minutes, and I could hear Cara whispering on the other end. I knew immediately she was probably telling Ryan everything.
“Don’t tell Ryan everything!” I exclaimed. “At least wait until I’m off the phone.”
“I’m not. Listen, I have an idea.”
“You do? That at least makes one of us. Dare I even ask?”
“I was just thinking you could always come home. We could really use help to plan the wedding, and maybe you could get a job here. I’m sure your mom would be so happy to have you home.”
A wave of panic came over me as I thought about returning to Sunset Cove. I hadn’t been back since the day I left five years ago. I hadn’t even gone back for a visit. Mom had come to me. I liked my new life. Or I did until now.
“What do you say? It will be like old times. We can shop, visit our old stomping grounds, and you can help me plan one hell of a wedding. Come on, I can’t do it without you.”
“I don’t know, Cara. I’m not sure I’m ready to return.” If there was one thing I was certain of, it was that I wasn’t ready to revisit my past. Any part of it.
“It’s because of Jackson, isn’t it?”
“What is?”
“Why you’re hesitating.” Cara said, her voice quieter now.
“Listen, it’s not about Jackson. It’s about me. It’s about the fact I haven’t been back since the funeral. It’s about my brother and the fact that they still haven’t found the guy responsible for taking his life that night.”
“Sure…”
I hated it when Cara did that. She knew I hadn’t dealt well with my brother’s death. I’d been in therapy since it happened. I had confronted a lot of things from that night, but it didn’t mean that many of those memories and thoughts didn’t rise. The one thing I hadn’t confronted was how things had changed in my relationship with Jackson after it had happened. I hated to admit it, but Cara knew me better than I knew myself.
I glanced at my cell phone as it vibrated on the table. As Cara began going on about all the things I could do there while trying to convince me to return, I leaned forward and grabbed my phone.
Jim had sent me a text. I took a deep breath and opened his message. Tears formed in my eyes once again as I read the words. It was final. He had messaged me to let me know he was on his way over and would leave my items from his apartment in the lobby of my apartment building for me to pick up. Which meant that he must have packed them up over the past couple of weeks while I’d been in bed with the flu. Suddenly, I felt as if he had been planning this for some time and just hadn’t found the time to tell me.
“...and honestly, trying to plan a wedding for a couple hundred people in only a few short months is going to be hard enough. That’s why I need you here. I know with you by my side, it will go off like a hitch. What do you say? Will you come home and help me? Please?”
