Page 32 of Here We Go Again

I lift my hands to my cheeks. “I think I have to sit here until my face isn’t swollen and puffy. This is why I don’t cry. I look like a splotchy tomato.”

“But you’re a beautiful splotchy tomato,” she says.

I take a deep breath. “Thanks for spending your break with me.”

“Of course,” Mia says. “Poor Aaron had to eat by himself, but you’re worth it.”

“Aaron, is it? How are things with you guys? I’m happy to vacate the stairwell if you need it.”

She raises her eyebrows suggestively. “We’ve graduated from stairwells, thank you very much. We’re finally going out this weekend. On a real date.”

“Yay! That’s amazing,” I say, even as an uncomfortable sense of instability pricks at my heart. I’m so happy for Mia. But the possibility of heading back to California without her feels like lobbing off my own arm. I don’t know how I’ll survive without her. Especially since things are over with Rory.

Or almost over, anyway.

She reaches over and wraps an arm around my shoulders. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I should be,” I say. “I’m a little wrung out. But I’m thinking a bath in Indigo’s enormous bathtub should help me feel like myself again.”

“That bathtub really is extraordinary,” Mia says. “You should absolutely go use it.”

“You’re off at seven?” I ask. “Want me to come back for you?”

“Nah. I’ve got my running clothes in my locker. I’m going to change and make getting home part of my workout.”

“The fact you’re willing to run outside at all in the middle of an Atlanta summer is beyond me,” I say.

“I’m actually getting used to it,” she says. “And have you seen my skin lately?” She pats her cheeks. “I’m so plump and hydrated. You wanna come with me? I can run home to meet you, then we could head over to the park to finish?”

I’m not half the runner Mia is. Even with her much shorter legs, she can basically run circles around me. I’m more of a yoga and Pilates girl, neither of which requires me to be outside when it’s hot and humid. But a run might be just the thing I need to reset my brain before I meet Rory.

“Actually, a run sounds good,” I say. “But only a short one because I have to meet Rory tonight.”

She sits up a little taller. “Shut up. Are you serious? You never want to run with me.”

“I’m serious. But we have to get smoothies from that place on the corner after we’re done. And you can’t frown at me when I don’t add protein powder to mine.”

“Done,” Mia says.

“And you can’t secretly ask them to add kale when I’m not looking.”

“You can’t even taste the kale.”

“No kale,” I repeat, and she breathes out a sigh, pushing herself to her feet.

“One of these days I’m going to convince you,” she says.

She holds out her hands, and I let her pull me to my feet, my butt numb from the concrete. She wraps me up in one of her tiny but fierce hugs. “Go home. Relax a little. I’ll be home by seven thirty.”

On my way out, I catch my reflection in the small glass panel of the stairwell door. I’m blotchy and puffy-eyed, my hair frizzing out of its ponytail. Somehow it seems fitting—the exact look for a woman about to break up with one man while definitely not thinking about another.

9

THEO

After I leave the hospital, I’m at the practice complex for physical therapy until eight. I grab some dinner on the way home, planning to crash early. A few of the guys are over at Holly’s, but my head is too full of Becca to spend time with anyone else right now.

Carter and Holly both knew that I was going to see her today, and they’ll want to know how it went. I’ll tell them eventually, but not tonight.